New Generation
by Jazzerman
Summary: Years after the end of the events of the first game 5 new heroes have killed the old overlord, starting a new adventure for the Overlord's vicious son Keyon. First Overlord fic ANYWHERE!
1. A new beginning

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 1

Keyon lay trapped under the rubble of a statue. The damp floor, the light smell of mildew and mushrooms filtered into his nose making him feel sick. He hated the smell, if not for the dizziness in his head and the warm feeling of the blood trickling down his face he would have pushed the statue off his body. But he felt so tired... It was like his whole body refused to answer his commands to get up. He laid his head down on the ground and resigned himself to whatever the fates dealt him.

As he drifted into unconsciousness, he recalled his youth as the only son of Rose, Mistress of the Dark Tower and of the Overlord, master of all the land of Spree and Heaven's peak. He remembered his childhood and the days he spent playing with the Minions, Goblin-gremlin like creatures with wide mouths, elongated ears, unwavering loyalty, and surprising strength for their size. These creatures, normally used by his father the Overlord to pillage and destroy threats to his domain were his childhood playmates since these creatures are almost childlike intellectually.

Of all the places in the Tower Keyon was never allowed in the dungeon or the forge in the lower sections of the Tower for fear of harm coming to him. Jester was the only Minion that Keyon truly disliked, he was far more annoying than any other Minion, had those repulsive jingle bells and that jester stick he did tricks with. Gnarl was okay, he was far more intelligent and wise in the ways of evil than anyone even Keyon's father had ever seen... Save perhaps the Overlord before him.

Keyon remembered the stern lessons his mother had taught him, practical lessons that would serve him when he took the mantle of Overlord someday. He remembered how she would discipline him with a switch when he stopped paying attention. He remembered she would get extremely cross whenever he would start to ogle the servant women that his father kept to clean the Tower for him. But most importantly he remembered the people who raided the tower and killed them both in an epic battle while he hid from them. The blood was now stinging his eyes and left him sightless but Keyon could hear someone approaching where he lay. He doubted whoever it stood larger than a human child or a Halfling and prayed for a quick death.

"Over here!" A cry from a familiar warty throat as Keyon felt the weight of the statue being lifted off of him and the sound of it being tossed over behind him.

"Well done Giblet." A wizened voice said, coming up from behind the first, accompanied by the sound of a wooden staff hitting the floor. "It looks like the old adage is right, Empires rise and fall but evil always finds a way."

---

The sun rose just as it always done on the land, but in recent years it could see a familiar sight, the image of the Dark Tower, home of the Overlord and center of several evil empires smoking and in ruins. In one of the higher rooms lay the form of the new Overlord.

"Ugh," Keyon groaned as he sat up. As his eyes focused he could see that the room he was in was once his mother's room, nearly everything was exactly as he remembered it. Granted many of the furnishings; vases, chairs, curtains for example had been knocked to the floor by the ferocity of the attack on the tower. The fact that everything was here was almost astounding, Keyon knew from his father that normally when people raid they normally take everything that isn't nailed down.

"Glad to see you're awake sire." An old minion rasped as he stepped into the room, Keyon easily recognized Gnarl the Minion master. "As you can see this is the only room the Minions managed to save from those invaders."

"Sire?" Keyon was confused, granted he was the son of the Overlord but even so Gnarl had never referred to him as 'sire'. Suddenly the realization that his father had been slain and was not able to be healed, if that was so then...

Gnarl smirked, able to discern by the look on the young man he had figured it out. "Yes my boy, you are the new Overlord. A shame that your father and mistress Rose fell before they could complete your training in use of the tower's spells. Still your father was a quick learner. I'm sure you are as well, you'll have to be if you plan on taking back what these new heroes stole from you young master."

Keyon cracked his neck and his knuckles, he was willing to get started with practicing his newly acquired position out on his enemies. "Tell me all that you know about these heroes who invaded the tower."

"I know only what they called themselves... a cleric named Fern Dawnborn, Clara Ironfist the monk, a Bard called Paul Stringmaze, Evan Tangle the Druid, and a nameless Sorcerer."

"I suggest we start then Gnarl." Keyon said, turning to look out the window towards Spree, the nearest settlement. "We have much to do."

To be continued.


	2. A dark day for sheep

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 2

Gnarl lead the tower's new master to the armory in the lower section of the tower. The armory was were the Overlord's armor and weapons were custom made by Giblet the forge master Minion. Giblet was a typical Brown that had helped the second Overlord in retrieving the Tower Heart and in the fight against the Halfling Hero Melvin Underbelly but after the retrieval of the smelter Giblet had been promoted to forge master. Actually when Gnarl was selecting a forge master Giblet was the only one that didn't step back on account of him seeing a tasty beetle on the floor.

"This is your armory Sire." Gnarl said, leading the young man to the rack of armor and weaponry on a rotating shelf that housed the selection of armor of different styles and materials. Steel, Durium, and Arcanium being the strongest and most ornate among them and all infused with the life-force that had once been used to spawn minions.

Keyon lifted and placed the gauntlet from the Arcanium armor and frowned. Although he was seventeen, where he would be considered an adult in the land of Spree, the gauntlet fit loosely on his arm. Not only that, Keyon could barely lift the heavy metal object once it was on. Disheartened that he could not wear the old armor of his father he turned to the Durium armor. It too was too heavy for him. The steel armor was far more light that either and was actually allowed Keyon to move about with relative ease. The only problem is that it was it was forged for a man that was far stronger and larger that he was.

"Don't worry sire. Giblet wake up!" Gnarl said, shaking the brown minion who had fallen asleep while Keyon had been trying on the armors. "There's forging to be done! Measure the master for a new set of steel armor and be quick about it!"

Keyon snorted in disgust as Giblet began to climb all over him with a measuring rope, making mindless loops and gibbering something that couldn't be understood through the Brown's welder's mask. Finally Giblet hopped off, taking the rope with him and began to forge the armor without any infusion of Minion life-force since there were so few left in the tower.

"Have the minions start cleaning and making repairs. I'm going to Spree as soon to harvest life-force and collect information." Keyon said, picking up the steel sword and a plain leather sheath off the weapon rack.

"But master, your armor will not be ready for another hour!" Gnarl was more worried about his own future if Keyon died. It could be decade until someone with an evil heart came near the tower again that could claim the Tower's power as his own. "I highly advise against such action."

Keyon's smirk told the old Minion that he had no intention of going there to die. "I intend to ask the people of Spree themselves. No one there has ever seen me before since mother kept in this Tower most of my younger life. This leather training armor should be enough to tell the peasants that I am but a poor adventurer and offer me information. They'll never know I am the true lord and master of Spree until I come in full armor with a horde of Minion to rain horrible fiery vengeance upon those who wronged me."

Gnarl felt a swell of pride seeing such a young man committed to evil. Truly all of the tutor lessons he gave the boy when he was younger had been taken to heart.

---

Keyon was glad that the Tower Heart had not been stolen, otherwise he would have had to walk all the way to Mellow Hills, land of humans and Halflings and home of the town of Spree. As he appeared at the collection of pillars near the teleportation gate Keyon looked on around at the pristine hillside. Trees, green grass, and flowers grew everywhere. Butterflies flew every which way, sheep grazed in large flocks out in the open, and to make things worse there was a pleasant smell in the air. Keyon couldn't help but feel a little warm and fuzzy inside at the sight of this place... if only for a second.

From his place on the hill Keyon could see no one near this area. He suddenly remembered that his father had told him that years ago when The Overlord had killed the corrupt hero Melvin Underbelly he had given back the food Melvin and his Halfling forced had stolen from Spree, provided that the people swore unwavering loyalty to him. Since that time the sheep population had exploded and ever since the people allowed him to kill as many as he wanted, the townspeople thought it better than their master kill their extra sheep than themselves.

With a murderous grin Keyon unsheathed his steel sword, a light and rather plain weapon in appearance. The weapon had no real enhancements since Keyon's father had little use of Steel weaponry since he used Arcanium weapons as a rule. The sheep did not flee at his approach, they were used to seeing humans walking up to them to pet them or feed them by hand. Keyon cured them of their fearlessness with two swings of his sword. The rest of the flock fled from the young man as he stood over the decapitated bodies of a sheep and a young lamb. Keyon had not done this for food and although it was a little fun to end the life of such worthless creatures he had another reason. Keyon cleaned his sword in a patch of grass and reached down to the newly made corpses to drew out the life force that was ebbing out of the sheep. Keyon had watched this trick a thousand times and was pleased at how easy it had come to him.

The two small orbs of warm light he now held in each hand gave off a yellow-tan color, Keyon didn't bother with going after the rest of the flock, instead he returned to the gate and dropped the life-force onto the gate. Keyon knew Gnarl would have someone put the life-force into the Brown Minion Hive, the birthing place of all Brown Minions to create two new Browns.

Smiling at this little achievement Keyon left the bloody sheep to rot as he walked towards the walled town of Spree. The rough cut logs that comprised the wall were pointed on the top and on each side of the town were drawbridges over the river and gates. The town had been repaired years ago when Kahn and his thieves and overseers attacked and half demolished both Spree and Heaven's Peak. The peasants on the archer platforms eyed the stranger with minor curiosity, but allowed him to enter without argument.

Spree was not much different since the time of Keyon's father's conquest of the land. The people were fed and generally healthy for being filthy farming peasants. Keyon drew minimal attention, something that did not sit well with Keyon, a man walking with armor and a sword at his belt was something that should have drawn half of the town to him. Keyon noticed that the Brown spawning pool near the main entrance was still functional, but Keyon left it inactive. He did not want to let on that he could summon Minions just yet. Only then did the undercover Overlord notice that sickeningly sweet tune in the air. The sound of a skilled hand playing a harp.

Keyon needed no other incentive than to follow the filthy slack jawed morons to the source of the music. A small crowd of the worthless peons had gathered around a man in his early thirties by Keyon's guess. He was wearing leather armor like Keyon, however his was far more ornate with silver trim and intricate stitching designs that showed off a splendor that was seldom seen in this dirt farming community. He wore a short sword was at his hip, a sharp looking hat with a long feather on his head, and soft leather boots that looked they had seen a hundred miles. A sack of traveling equipment (a bedroll, traveling cloak, and some other things that Keyon could not identify) sat next him while a small metal pan sat in front of him with a few copper coins laying in it. The man himself was ruggedly handsome, he had short cut blonde hair, a short yet well trimmed beard and mustache and sparkling blue eyes that made many of the ladies of the village swoon. Much to their husband's ire.

Before Keyon could take any action a loud ringing sound resounded in the young Overlord's ears, however he seemed to be the only one that heard it. Only once the blasted noise stopped that Keyon heard the echoing voice of his tutor Gnarl. "Testing! Testing! Can you hear me Sire?"

Keyon's gaze looked to his left then right, but found no sight of the old Minion.

"No need to speak Sire, I can hear your more powerful thoughts." Gnarl said. "It's a gift one gains when you serve the forces of evil for so long..."

'I hear you Gnarl' Keyon grumbled in his mind. 'Now what do you want Gnarl?'

"Beware him Sire! The man with the harp!" Gnarl pleaded, a little too forcefully to Keyon's liking. "That's Paul Stringmaze, the Bard of the band that attacked the tower! It would be unwise to attack him now without any Minions or armor. Bards are tricky little blighters.. never know what they'll do."

"Hail and will met fellow adventurer." Paul said suddenly, stopping his playing to look up at Keyon. "I suppose you came to hear of I and my companion's exploits."

Only now that Paul had stopped playing his instrument did Keyon get a good look at it. It was wooden and unpainted yet it was expertly carved to resemble oak leaves on the top and the clawed feet of a dragon at the bottom. Keyon would enjoy hanging it in his room next to the bard's severed head.

Despite the bubbling bloodlust in Keyon's heart at the sight of the man he kept his wits and showed nothing but mild interest. A trick his mother had taught him. "I heard from some that the mighty Overlord was defeated. I hoped to meet these mighty heroes."

Paul smiled, enjoying this lukewarm praise greatly. "Aye, we did kill the evil one, and destroyed much of his tower. We even rescued all the maidens that he kept as slaves, making them live in fetid squalor..."

Slaves? Those girls were servants of the tower. Keyon remembered his father asked them to do very little but keep the tower tidy for him in exchange for food and lodging... that and keeping themselves alive, after all that's what keeps good servants alert.

The villagers spat at the mention of the Overlord, utterly swayed by the charismatic man and his fine playing of his harp. Keyon mentally cursed the villagers, he'd be back with a whirling flailing horde to raze this town for it's lack of loyalty.

"I always said these villagers had the loyalty of potatoes Sire. This just proves it." Gnarl said indignantly.

"Now, now good sirs and madams," the bard said, plucking a few strings on his harp. "One good thing came out of the Overlord's presence in this humble town, I got to come to Spree and meet all of you fine folk."

The villagers ate up his flattery and the women swooned again, only this time their husbands did not care for they were totally taken with this good natured hero. Keyon however was not bewitched by this man's words, he saw only the man he would ripping apart later.

"Tell me my friend, is there something you sought here in Spree other than allowing me the honor of knowing you good sir?" Paul smiled, plucking a few more strings.

"Only to know more than the names of the ones who defeated the Overlord." Keyon said, straining the expression that he knew nothing of these heroes, indeed he didn't. "Are they still on the road together?"

"No I'm afraid, they have all returned to their lives." Paul said, his focus more shifted to tuning a string on his harp than Keyon. "The closest that lives here is Evan Tangle who dwells in Evernight among the trees and elves, Fern Dawnborn is the new high priest of Heaven's Peak's church, and Clara Ironfist's monastery is in the shifting sands of the Ruborian Desert."

"And yourself?" Keyon said, indulging the bard with a well practiced intrigued smirk. "Is Spree your refuge or is it true bards have no true home but the road?"

Paul shook his head and smiled. "No my friend, but Spree will do for a few days. I have to sing for my supplies while I plan my next journey."

"I see. Well good bard I take your leave. I will seek you out if I should see any other evils in this land to vanquish!" Keyon bowed, and turned, walking out of the town's main gate.

"Ha!" Gnarl suddenly laughed from the safety of the Tower, nearly making Keyon jump in surprise. "I should have known, bards aren't as smart or as shifty as thieves. That Paul just gave us the location of all his friends. It shouldn't be too hard to hunt them down one by one."

"The idea is... pleasing." Keyon said calmly as he walked up the path towards the large untended herds of sheep in the hills, sword unsheathed. "Do hold on for my arrival Gnarl... I have something to do."

To be continued.

Willam - Thanks dude, and congrats on being first person to review FF's first Overlord fic!

Random person- Thanks a heap person. XD

Anon - Always willing to help. People often don't write the interesting fics, they often just spit out the same thing everyone else does, just a little different. I prefer to write things as an example of what I want to see.

Tabansi232 - Thanks, keep an eye on this fic!


	3. Down on the farm

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 3

Gnarl was pleased. The small horde of Brown Minions was sparsely armed with tattered leathers and rusty knives and farm implements. Hardly as dangerous as a horde armed with golden Ruborian armor, axes, and scimitars but it was better than Minions wielding nothing but sticks and clubs.

Gnarl was not pleased however at the gibbering and running about these newly borne Minions made. Minions had no real life cycle and went from stolen life-force to adult Minions instantly thanks to the Minion Hives. Gnarl still wished they would shut up and stay on their assigned tasks of repairing the tower. Browns ran up the steps and down, each time returning with rubble or broken furnishings to be thrown out or burned later to help heat the smelters. Giblet however was down in the forge, hammering out the final touches on a new set of steel armor and polishing a newly crafted axe and helmet for the new Overlord's uses.

Keyon returned at length, appearing in a burst of red light at the pool that served as a portal to and from various points across the land. The young master's face and leathers were sprinkled with fresh red drops of color and his sword was in hand and coated from the tip of the blade to the pommel with warm blood. To Gnarl, it was a wonderful sight.

"Welcome back Sire." Gnarl announced, bowing his hunched frame and dipping his ears in reverence to his young master. "I must say I was impressed at how well you deceived that blabbermouth bard. Now we can begin to search for the locations of these new heroes."

Keyon nodded in agreement. "Evernight is the most seceded, it makes sense to go there first."

Gnarl nodded his grizzled head. It did indeed make sense, killing that bard would have been a bad idea at the time. The villagers were enthralled by Paul's magic harp and would have descended on the young Overlord if he had struck the wretched hero. Even with his sword and leather armor, the odds of getting past fifty angry farmers was not a well advised choice of action. Gnarl said nothing of this matter though, there were more pressing matters and time was something that did not bide well with an Overlord's lust for revenge.

"Giblet should be done with your armor Lord." Gnarl said, gesturing to the stairwell leading downwards to the forge.

Keyon wasted no more words and descended the steps to the forge, where Giblet was busy polishing the final spots on the steel helmet. Keyon however was not interested in his armor looking good, he just wanted it to protect him in battle. Discarding his sword and abandoning his meager leather armor, Keyon wasted no time in donning his new armor. Despite Giblet's bizarre way of measuring, the armor fit its owner perfectly, as did the helmet. The axe fit comfortably in Keyon's hands and was perfectly balanced, the ease of the practice swings he made pleased him greatly.

Giblet, seeing his master was smirking under the helmet hopped up and down. Happily gibbering to himself in great in his satisfaction that he had done a good job. The forge master turned to put his tools away, but as he turned to check on his master and attempt to get a little more praise he had found that Keyon had left without a real word of thanks. Giblet's ears drooped in disappointment as he placed the sword back on the weapons rack.

---

"Master, I suggest a field test of your commanding talents before we get down to business." Gnarl asked, hobbling over to the newly armored Keyon as he rose from the forge chamber.

Keyon frowned, he didn't want to wait at all he wanted the blood of those who wronged him and he wanted it now. "I can handle one hero or a thousand Gnarl. Why should I waste time on a practice target."

"Swearer of revenge! Survivor of massacres! Refuser of tests!" Jester announced as he jangled up behind both student and teacher. His enthusiasm only earned him a steel plated foot to the jaw, Keyon had never liked that creepy Brown not even as a child.

"Trust me lord, even your father required a task such as this." Gnarl said, moving over to the side of the pool as an image of the grassy fields of a farm house appeared just beneath the dark watery surface. "Consider it a chance to gain more life-force, and a chance to kill one of the villagers who lodged the heroes for a day before they attacked this lovely tower."

That changed everything, Keyon took a step towards the pool as he grinned at the thought of blood. "I suppose I could wait for a little while..."

Without much more thought on the matter Keyon stepped into the water of the pool, ready to head to the target farm house to level it.

---

Keyon marched through the grain fields that lead to the farm house, the trek from the portal was not as long as Keyon had expected it to be but it was rather tedious. Behind him were seven sparsely armed Browns, each of them jabbering on about 'cowsies' and 'sheepies' and other tasty creatures there were to eat on farms. The idea of watching the Minions devour an entire, very raw cow made even Keyon wish to think of more pleasant things.

The remote farm they were approaching was ringed on three sides by fields of wheat and corn. A private garden for the family that lived there sported beans, pumpkins, and tomatoes not far from the old wooden barn and the two story farmhouse. Cows, sheep, and goats stood grazing lazily on the very grass they stood on.

Keyon spat on the gold wheat, disgusted that these peons who had prospered under the iron hand of his father would aid his enemies. Keyon would end their lives as violently as possible, his axe would drink the blood of any traitor that aided the heroes. Even the children.

Keyon's approach was heralded by the loud barking of a dog as it sounded warning to its masters that someone unfriendly was approaching. The large canine was so disturbed by Keyon's evil aura and the stench of his Minions that it broke free of the pole that it was leashed to and ran full speed in a straight line towards the young Overlord. Although his Browns cried out for their master to let them attack and protect him Keyon did no such thing. As the beast neared and leapt for his throat it found its head free of its body with one swipe of Keyon's axe. The body of the large dog fell on one of the Brown Minions, causing it to scream for it's comrades to get the fresh corpse off of it. Its compatriots only laughed.

The dog's final and high pitched yelp, released seemingly on reflex had caused some stir on the farm. A young man dressed in simple and very unclean clothes ran around the side of the barn awkwardly holding a pitchfork. By Keyon's guess he was only a few years older than he, but that made no difference. Keyon wanted blood and what little was spilled by the hound's death was too little for his liking.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The young man yelled as he pointed his pointy farm tool at the armored intruder. Only when his eyes fell on what was once his faithful pet did he realize the trespasser's intentions. "Get back you! Or I'll do to you what you did to my dog!"

Keyon would have laughed if he hadn't found that threat so empty. Keyon kept his eyes on the young man as he spoke in a hushed tone to his Minions. "Minions, I want the lives of every man, woman, and child on this farm. You may kill, eat, drink and have anything you want here as long as I can take their lives. Disobey and I will have you all cleaning the Green Minion Hive for a week!"

The Browns shuddered and babbled their promises to obey, the idea of being that close to the Green Hive was enough to make some of the little creatures nearly retch. Still that disgusting thought hindered them only for a moment, the little goblin creatures held the sickles, hatchets, and the small knives that they have found lying discarded around outside the tower and charged screaming their battle cries as they descended en mass upon the young farmer.

The eldest son of the household had little chance against these small creatures but in his panic to defend himself from the seven Minions he unwisely thrusted his pitchfork at the first Minion that charged within range. The little monster ducked under the attack, saving himself from being skewered but screamed in pain as one of the prongs pierced its long ear. A sharp pull upward from the young man and the Brown was on the ground rolling around holding the side of its head where its left ear once was.

While the young man had just finished with the first enemy, the remaining six only stepped over their fallen ally and hitting him with their dull and rusty weapons. The young man screamed in agony, the pain of a blade was something that the farmer's son never had experienced before and all his childhood dreams of joining Castle Spree's forces seemed hallow as his lifeblood leaked from his wounds and onto the formerly green grass.

One last slice to his thighs from a Brown's sickle brought the young man to the ground, he lashed out with his pitchfork in a ditch last attempt to kill his attackers but only knocked a few to the ground. Suddenly the man in armor loomed over him with his axe in his gauntleted hand. With a raise of his other hand a bellowing horn sounded from nowhere, calling the Minions back to his side. The armored man placed a boot on the young man's chest, pressing down with enough force to hear the popping of cartilage from the young man's rib cage.

"Wha... why are you doing this?" The young man asked, barely able to speak from the pain in his chest. "Who are you?"

Keyon snorted, disgusted with the young man to a level that he could not describe and in one downward arc ended the young man's life. Keyon felt a little better knowing that this whelp was no longer among the living, another enemy of his family was not in this world. Turning back to his Minions he noticed one was minus an ear, a Minion that was greatly injured needed to return to the tower to heal. Looking back at the young man Keyon placed his metal hand on what was left of the young man's head and drew out his life-force, transforming it into a brownish ball of light.

"You, one-ear!" Keyon barked, instantly earning a round of chuckling from the other Minions as he tossed the life-force ball to the injured Minion. "Take that back to the Tower and do NOT get lost on the way. I will not come looking for you."

The Brown nodded and gave Keyon a hardy "Yes master!" before running off across the field of wheat holding the young man's life-force as if it were a priceless gem.

Keyon looked at the other Minions, they were all uninjured and looked very excited to see their master 'smash' the 'stinky farmer'. Keyon knew that this young man could not run such a large farm, leaving the corpse and taking his Minions to check the barn next to the house he expected to find the rest of the family. Instead all he found was an old cow and an upturned pail of milk.

"Cowsie!" One of the Minions squawked.

There were times Keyon questioned whether the Minions were good servants. While they never questioned orders or said no to him, yet at the same time they had never shown much in the means of intelligence. Then again that was probably why they were so loyal in the first place.

"There's no one here." Keyon said, turning from the barn and heading back towards the farm house. "The only place that any of these weaklings would hide is in the house."

Circling the farmhouse with his half dozen underlings Keyon came upon what he had hoped to find, an outdoor entrance to the house's cellar. A single swipe of his axe took off the lock and a subsequent kick from his armored boot broke the wooden door open.

"Minions, go down there and bring me any person you find!" The young Overlord bellowed down at his small legion of Browns. "If you find no one, destroy the main supports and return to my side!"

The Browns shouted their enthusiastic approval and raced down the stairs with weapons drawn and shouting unintelligent battle cries. While Keyon waited semi-patiently, the Browns found little of value to their master. There was no one hiding down in the dank cellar and there were only barrels of dried and canned foods. The Minions did find four thick wooden posts that ran from the ceiling to the dirt floor of the cellar. Without any regard for their own safety or well being the Browns began to hack at the support beams and shoulder ram into them periodically, one by one the beams gave way no longer able to support the weight they held.

The Minions wasted no more time in the cellar and ran towards the stairs to return to their master's side, not wanting to be crushed under the house that creaked and groaned over head. All six Browns returned to find their master leaning on his axe. The Minions did not stop until they were at their rightful place behind their Overlord, more out of fear of being crushed by the destruction of the beams than defending their master against an ambush.

Keyon fanged a pleased grin under his helmet, the magic concealing his face and eyes from view kept this from being known by the Minions but just for a moment the light blue lights that were in fact Keyon's eyes blazed a cruel red. He had just heard the terrified scream of a woman as the house gave one final loud creak before the sound of wood breaking under it's own weight. A woman who was clearly getting on in her years with her grey and black hair raced out of the front door before the house collapsed in on itself.

Keyon wasted no time in racing around the corner and grabbed the woman by the neck and slammed her roughly against the outside of the house, the claws on his armored fingertips leaving small but very clean cuts on her neck.

"Tell me how many are in your family woman and you may be spared my wrath!" Keyon shouted, making his seriousness perfectly clear by lifting his axe and pressing the bloodied weapon to the woman's throat.

The woman, now terrified beyond any other time in her life only screamed as her eyes drifted over to the corpse that had once been her son. She opened her mouth to scream but could not find her voice, only her wide eyes and her tears gave any indication that she grieved for her son... and silently did not wish to share his fate.

"Did you hear me wench!?" Keyon bellowed, drawing blood with the sharp edge of his axe. "How many live on this farm?"

"F-four..." The woman shakily said, her eyes now glued to the large axe at her throat.

Keyon thought on this... one would be the young man he had killed, he had the woman by the throat, clearly there was still the matter of the husband and one other. Clenching the woman's throat harder he brought his armored face close to hers. From the woman's point of view she could see only a shadowed silhouette of this murderer's face under the helmet and two cold, glowing points of light that narrowed sharply as griped her tighter.

"Besides you, who else lives here woman?" Keyon demanded, not letting up his malice for even a second.

"My husband, my daughter, and... my son..." The old woman struggled at the mention of her son, trying not to look at the mangled corpse not far from where she was held. "Please... do not harm the rest of my family..."

"You did what I said, that alone would buy you your life." Keyon said, setting the woman down and watching her grasp her throat and greedily take in the air she had been recently been denied. "However by taking in those heroes who assaulted my tower... That will cost you your lives."

The old woman watched in stricken terror as a single swing of Keyon's axe sent her head flying and sent a roar of cheering from the mouths of his Minions. Keyon felt that this kill was far less satisfying than the boy. At least he had put up a fight and had given his Minions a work out. Drawing out the old woman's life-force with his armored hand he handed it off to a Brown.

"Return it to the tower. There is no need to come back, and if you see your one eared companion on the way tell him the same." Keyon ordered, now looking out for the head of the house hold. Surely he would be far more satisfying to kill.

The Minion nodded, shaking its ears in the process and running off at full pace with the ball of yellow-brown light.

Keyon needed to get the farmer's attention, with the remaining five minions he knew of an excellent way to get anyone's attention in the vicinity. Keyon threw the doors of the barn open and gazed inside at the cow and large beams of wood. While the house had supports in the basement the barn was far more simply built.

"Minions! Break down this barn!" Keyon barked pointing his axe ahead into the large red building.

The Minions let loose with their battle cries and charged into the barn. Keyon watched as his henchmen worked fast to bring down the support posts and thus collapse the barn in one thunderous crash. While Keyon felt invigorated at seeing the large building collapse, his Minions who had narrowly avoided being crushed felt sorry that they did not get to eat the 'cowsie.'

Keyon knew that the crash of the barn would bring anyone who heard it to the farm, all he had to do was wait for the farmer to arrive. Keyon leaned against the handle of his axe, allowing his Minions to wander and pick things from the garden and eat what they wanted. No one would be around to eat anything once Keyon was done here. After a half hour of waiting and pacing Keyon saw two people approaching. One was a graying, sun tanned farmer wielding a five pronged pitch fork and a young woman with long red hair and fair skin.

Both of these newcomers were scared of the large armored man that was now walking towards them with an axe and with five little creatures behind him. The farmer's fear turned to blistering rage when he saw the bodies of his son and wife were lying lifelessly.

"Ziva, stand back..." The farmer said to his daughter, pushing her behind him with his calloused hand.

Keyon grinned under the magical darkness of his helmet, if he had any luck this old farmer would have training in the guards or at least know how to chase off rustlers. The young Overlord hoped that this one would put up a decent challenge, the girl would surely be as pathetic a kill as the old woman. Keyon would have to make this fight interesting...

"Minions, stay here and do not interfere unless I call out for you." Keyon said coldly, again not even looking at the creatures he commanded. He knew they would obey him if he gave them eye contact or not.

The Minions grumbled their complaints but stood down. As much as they wanted to protect their master they still obeyed without question. All five Browns either sat down on the grass to watch the show or began to search for yummy looking bugs that were scattered here and there.

Keyon slowly stalked towards the farmer and his daughter, wanting to instill as much fear in his foe as possible. His mother had taught him the importance that psychological warfare in the battlefield and had seen his father utilize it in minor skirmishes with lesser heroes. He was now putting what he was taught into action. If the farmer truly had no experience the old man would make a very rash mistake and the battle would end right there. Keyon did not want to waste time if he was as skilled as the other farmer.

The farmer pushed his daughter back once more as he charged at the armored man with his pitchfork. Keyon sighed mentally, charging was a poor tactic against any armored opponent, Keyon readied his axe and prepared to deflect the crude farm implement then counter attack. The idea worked at first at least, Keyon side stepped the farmer and attempted to grab the pitchfork by the handle and wrest it away from the farmer; it worked, just not as Keyon expected. The farmer let go of the pitchfork and continued his charge, knocking Keyon on his back. The farmer wasted no time as he leapt on Keyon's chest and with the aid of a nearby rock began to pound on Keyon's helmet. If it wasn't for the young Overlord's expertly crafted steel helmet his skull would be jelly by now, Keyon felt his own anger at the farmer's amateur tactics and slide his hand down the shaft of the pitchfork and with one quick movement the five pronged farming tool found it's way in the old man's back.

The farmer let out a pained yell and fell off to the side of the Overlord, followed by a scream from his daughter who was watching nearby. Keyon's helmet was dented here and there but was wholly unharmed save for a bit of a headache. Keyon had had quite enough of this little game and stamped his boot on the old man's side and pulled the pitchfork out before kicking him onto his side. The last thing the old man saw was an axe coming down at him.

"Another talentless peon... I hoped for something more than that." Keyon said, shaking his armored head before looking back at the Minions who were cheering at his victory. "Get over here!"

The Browns jumped to attention and ran to their master, ready to serve in slaying this final enemy, the woman. Even the Browns with their limited intellects knew this would be a very quick fight.

The girl stepped backward, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of the armored man who had just killed her brother, mother and now he had slain her father right in front of her. She attempted to run but tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground, turning on the ground to face her attacker.

Keyon saw no reason continue this farce, he simply walked over and placed his boot on her chest and readied his axe for the kill. "You should know that your father brought this on you."

However, before Keyon could slay the wench a familiar raspy voice boomed inside Keyon's head. "Wait master, do not kill this young lady."

"And why shouldn't I?" The young Overlord asked in his mind, not even attempting to sound polite to his mentor.

"The tower is in great disrepair and there is much that needs cleaning." Gnarl said, having watched everything from the pool in the Tower's throne room. "Why not bring this young lady back to free up some of your Minion's time?"

Keyon smirked, very much liking the idea of making a servant out of this traitorous farmer's daughter. "Very well."

"You two!" Keyon said, pointing to the two closest Browns. "Bring the woman with us. She has much to atone for her family's crimes against my family."

"What do you mean?" The young red haired woman asked, a second before one of the Brown's knocked her out by hitting her in the back of the head with the handle of its pitchfork. She did not have to suffer the trip as two smelly Browns picked her up like a roll of carpet and carried her off as Keyon lead them back to the .

To be continued.

AN: this one took a long time to write... hope you enjoy it, and for those who want to read more I suggest you favorite this fic to keep an eye on it since updates will be slow but continuous.

William- thanks. As for the super powered characters (or uber characters) I've seen far too many of them on FF to make any of them myself. They're just pathetic attempts to make an OC seem cool. As for my new 'hero' characters I'm trying to follow Overlord's pattern of twisting hero stereotypes into workable villains.

Anon- Sweet indeed. Thanks for the review.

Overlordofnobodies- It's continuing, it's just slow because of all the other projects I have.

FTKnight- This fic will update slowly... too many projects... ugh... don't worry though. The bard will get what he deserves...

blackrogue123- Originality is what I shoot for.

Arjuna1356- I've noticed that few people can make a 'sequel' fic without adding a poorly designed OC or not keeping true to the story. They make the characters act, well out of character, they give them powers... this is my truest attempt yet at good writing.


	4. Servant

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 4

The farmer's daughter woke to find herself laying on the cold floor in a large stone room, illuminated by a large windowless balcony just beyond a strange black pool. There was a throne on a stone dais not far from where she was laying and all around her were the same brown creatures that were with that armored man that had slew her family... the images of her murdered kin flooded back to her and she began to weep for her mother, father, brother and even all the animals that were surely slaughtered by now by that demon in the armor and his little monsters.

"Ah I see you're awake." Came a croak of a voice from behind.

The young woman looked up to see a creature not unlike the ones that had aided her family's killer. It was grayish brown and wore a heavy coat of rags making him look like a hunchback. In his left hand he held a knobby wooden staff that had a strange yellow glowing gourd attached to the top with twine. It's purpose was clearly magical and thus beyond the simple farm girl. "Who- who are you?"

"I am Gnarl, Minion master and devoted servant of darkness." Said the little creature with a slight bow.

She stared at Gnarl for a moment or two before asking; "Am I in hell?"

The ugly creature chuckled, its long ears cocking backwards as it smiled and shook its head. "No my dear, you are very much alive. You are a 'guest' of the new Overlord."

Before any of this information could sink in, the sound of armored footsteps resounded off the walls of the stairway leading upward into the tower. The young woman clearly recognized the armored man who descended the stone stairs and entered the room without his murderous monsters or the axe that had felled her family members.

"You! You're the one who killed my family you bastard!" She cried as she pounding on his chest plate, unable to find a decent place to strike him since his biceps were the only part of him that was unarmored.

In an instant she flung herself at him, futilely attempting to somehow punch him through his expertly crafted steel armor. The Overlord's only response was a quick backhanded slap that knocked her on her rear and left a coin sized bruise on her young face. Gauntlets have that effect when used properly on irritating or uncooperative 'servants'.

Keyon removed his helmet to stretch his neck and to have the pleasure of glaring at her without the added imposing sight of his glowing eyes and crowned helmet. It did not have the fully desired effect on Ziva, what she saw underneath the helmet was a handsome young man her age with short black hair that was ruffled heavily from wearing that heavy helmet. He was definitely not the ugly murdering demon that she had expected to see under that helmet. She stared at him in silence for a moment, having seen very few men her own age as her father kept most of her would be suitors far away from the farm.

"My lord, this young lady is ready for her tasks." Gnarl said, bowing bow at his waist and his ears in reverence.

"Good. Have her begin by cleaning the throne room. I would prefer to relax in a clean room." Keyon said, sounding a little like his mother at that moment. Turning to Gnarl Keyon said; "I want a report on everything that was stolen or destroyed."

"Well Sire, as I'm sure you're aware your father's old servants were taken. Obviously if they were here they would be helping to clean the tower. The beer kettle your father stole from the Dwarves is gone, meaning no more beverages for your Minions, the statue your father took as a trophy after killing the Succubus queen is also missing. From what I see you have only the four simplest spells, anger, shield, slow, and fireball left. Luckily the invaders did not take any of our Minion hives, the Tower Heart, or any of the smelters. I must regret that the invaders also have taken everything of value in the treasury Sire..."

The loss of the gold was a blow to Keyon, without the gold he could not pay for supplies, items to replace what was stolen, or buy anything that his Minions could use as armor or weapons. But there was one thing that truly bothered him is that if the villagers of Spree believed everyone in the Tower dead then Keyon would no longer be receiving gold from the villagers. Keyon shook his head and took to reclining in his father's throne. This was not how he expected to succeed his father as Overlord.

From the corner a Brown who was carrying debris down from the upper level set down a large hunk of rock and spouted. "Bad heroes stole Minion's beer!"

Keyon managed to keep his laughter in check but a smile crept through onto his face. The Minions may not be intelligent but they could make him laugh when he needed them to. He brushed old pleasant memories of playing with the Minions quickly out of his mind, there were things to attend to.

"While you were out we managed to recover the bodies of your father and mistress Rose. Do you have a preference to how they shall be laid to rest?" Gnarl asked.

After a long quiet hour of careful contemplation Keyon reached a sensible conclusion. "Take their armor and store it in the armory. I intend to wear my father's armor when I am strong enough. My mother's armor will be stored until I find someone worthy enough and trustworthy enough to wear it."

"And the bodies milord?" Gnarl asked pointedly.

"Dress them in the finest clothes that remain and prepare a funeral pyre. I intend to grant them a noble funeral." Keyon said with a tone of finality. Turning to look down at Gnarl he asked; "Now that the Bard has given us information on the location of my enemies, who would you recommend as my first target Gnarl?"

"I am afraid there is no easy opponent for you milord..." Gnarl warned. "But I believe that you should go to Heaven's Peak to be rid of the Cleric, Fern Dawnborn. The longer she is among your father's followers in the Silent Order the more damage she can do."

Keyon couldn't help but agree. Those monks may have been weak willed but they were influential for controlling that region. As long as Keyon's father had reigned the Silent Order had hailed him as if he was a god unto them and worshiped both him and his Minions.

"Prepare my forces, I expect to kill the Cleric and all who follow her." Keyon said coldly as he rose from his stone throne. "How many Red, Green, and Blue Minions are left?"

"Not many milord." Gnarl said dipped his head in apology. "The Reds suffered the worst casualties while the Blues hid with the Greens. It turned out to be a smart move on their part. Or just a lucky one. The Blues ended up dragging any injured Minions they found into the shadows and healing any wound they discovered. As a result you have a total of forty Blues and twenty five Greens."

Keyon's frown deepened at this news. The Browns may have been the mainstay of his forces but the other Minions were useful beyond all accurate measure. "And what of the Reds?"

"You have only ten Lord Keyon." Gnarl said solemnly. Remembering how he would occasionally be kicked by the former Overlord. He had never been fully forgiven for his betrayal or for not telling the second master of the Dark Tower his past attempts at being a hero.

Keyon did not strike his Minion Master, although he did indeed feel the urge to do so. Instead he replaced his helmet and returned to the stairway to the upper levels to retire to what was left of his mother's room. There was no sense going into battle against a powerful foe while there was affordable time to rest.

"Gnarl, have the girl begin her duties. I expect you to be on your best behavior. And get her something else to wear. That dress of hers is unsuitable for this sort of work." Keyon said, pausing only long enough to make sure that Gnarl heard every word.

Gnarl agreed and waited until his master was out of earshot before turning to whomp the girl on the head with his walking staff. She had remained sitting on the floor where she had fallen from Keyon's brutal slap.

"Be glad you got off so easily!" Gnarl snorted. "The former master of this Tower would have had you swinging from the rafters as a decoration for attacking him, albeit you could never harm my master without a weapon."

The young lady grumbled and stood, brushing the dirt and dust from what was her newly bought dark red sundress that her father had bought for her. A pity it was now covered in dirt and blood, now that it was all she had to her name.

With an echoing snap of his claw Gnarl summoned a Brown Minion to his side. "Go find a bucket of water and a brush. This young lady has volunteered to clean the throne room."

"Volunteer nothing!" The young lady shrieked.

The Brown bent its ears and scampered off only to hurriedly return with a metal pail filled with soapy water and a large brown brush the size of a man's hand. The Brown Minion then ran to aid the others in repairing the upper section of the Tower.

"I am not cleaning anything! I am not your slave!" She shouted, shaking loose a little dust from the ceiling.

"Servant dear. Servant." Gnarl said, loving how he was able to get a rise out of this young lady. "You are free to go anytime you wish. But tell me, without a family what would you do for money?"

"I.. I don't know... I could get work as a seamstress in Heaven's Peak." She said, honestly only have sure of herself. Her sewing skills were actually sub par, she simply had no talent in it.

"True, but you could equally end up being a working girl in the Halfway to heaven Inn. I hear that orphan girls tend to end up there." Gnarl turned from the young lady to hide the grin on his face, enjoying his little game immensely.

Keyon stood on the top step having heard every word of Gnarl's and did not like how he was treating his new servant. Keyon had quickly slipped out of his armor and put on a clean red silk robe that had belonged to his father and fit him as well as he liked. The arms were a little long and it was built for a man double his muscle mass but it served its purpose. In his arm he carried a pillow that he had intended to give to the girl, some comfort was needed to keep the work force happy after all. Keyon gritted his teeth as he heard the last of the conversation, he didn't like how Gnarl knew these things or how he using them to frighten the young lady. No matter how much he had been tempted to take advantage of the women his father kept to clean the Tower he had kept his mind focused on his studies as his mother had taught him. His mother had instilled in him strong views on the treatment of women and those views remained strong despite what had happened to him. He would have shut down the Halfway to Heaven's activity but he was and had never been in control of the city and it DID rake in a lot of gold that went straight to his father's coffers.

"That's enough Gnarl." Keyon said, coming down the stairs in his robe. "Make sure that I am alerted if anything unusual happens."

Gnarl bowed his head and turned, walking down into the Tower's lower levels. The old Minion's stomach was calling for the beetles that lived down there.

Keyon turned to the young lady and threw the pillow at her, which she caught only after it hit her in the chest. She looked at him questioningly, after all wasn't she supposed to be a slave?

"I suggest you keep that from the Minions, they've been known to eat anything. Or try anyway." Keyon could see his words didn't exactly inspire comfort in the girl. "They will not try to eat you. I was referring to the feathers in that pillow."

"There are currently no beds in this Tower. The heroes your family allowed to stay with them destroyed nearly everything. I hope you sleep well. If you have any questions you can talk to Gnarl." And with that Keyon turned to walk back up the stairs.

"Um, what's your name?"

Keyon turned to look that girl. No one had ever been so forward with him. Then again he had never been with anyone his own age, most of the people that came to the Tower were would be heroes and killed on the spot or representative from the nations that held allegiance to Keyon's father that bored him as a child. "I am Overlord Keyon. Third Overlord of the Dark Tower and master of Minions. ... What is your name?"

"Ziva, Ziva Harlow." The young lady said, doing her best to sound polite for the pillow regardless of her current situation.

"Well... Get some rest. After cleaning the Throne room." Keyon said firmly, indicating he wanted her to work. "When you need food or water ask one of the Minions. Just be sure to tell them what you'd like otherwise they'll bring you a live insect."

Keyon turned to continue up the stairs, but Ziva just stood there. Attempting to sort out everything that she had learned today. About what had happened to her family, about those 'Minion' creatures, about what had happened to this place because of her father's choice to let those heroes take lodging in their barn, and about that man in the armor that commanded these creatures... This was all very strange. With a shake of her head she picked up the brush and bucket and began to clean the Throne room.

To be continued.

Anon- Same goes for you dude. thanks for the review.

blackrogue123- Thanks for the praise. I need all I can get since not a lot of people veiw fics in misc games. I know it's kinda jaded to use what I would do but I used my favored path in Overlord (getting slaves and killing people if they get in my way but more or less going the 'good-evil' path) for Keyon's father. I see him as being a man who saved the female elves and returned the statue just so he could force the elves to swear unwavering loyalty to him.


	5. A foul place indeed

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 5

Keyon looked out at Heaven's Peak from the misty hillside where the Tower gate had put him. The high stone walls and battlements stood stoically over the cool hilly landscape. The river fed moat that surrounded the outer walls of the city looked as clean and pristine as ever. Keyon could easily make out the high steeples of the many buildings on the other side of the walls from his hill. Keyon had chosen to forego a reconnaissance mission wearing his leather armor. The odds of the Silent Order obeying his commands were good seeing as under the armor he wore was identical to his father's in everyway. Surely he could pass for the same man these strange monks deified.

After summoning a troupe of well armed Browns and Greens from the nearby Minion pits Keyon walked boldly towards the bridge leading into town. The gate was closed and drawbridge raised, meaning that someone did not want visitors in the city. Keyon cursed loudly, if that blasted cleric had not destroyed the Tower Gate inside the city he would have simply appeared inside the city.

"Open the gates!" Keyon bellowed up at the men on the parapet.

"Who demands us to open the gates?" The man yelled back.

Keyon took a second to clear his throat, his answer needed to sound clear and commanding. "The Overlord, ruler of all the lands and the only reason why this city is not over run with hungry undead wants in! Now lower the blasted bridge!"

The Minions all clamored around Keyon, shouting such things such as 'master great!' and 'Overlord real strong!'.

The guards mumbled to each other, apparently discussing what to do about Keyon's request. Keyon could not hear their hushed words up on their guard tower. Keyon did not have to wait long for their response.

The guard's answer was well thought out, direct, and to the point. "Go away! We do not want imposters and liars in our fair city!"

Keyon spat in anger, unintentionally on the back of a Brown's neck. Resulting in the little creature letting out a surprised yelp and spun around to see what had hit it. Keyon gave no indication that he had done anything to the Brown, he only shot a heated glare up to the guard tower.

"Master, might I suggest an alternate way inside?" Gnarl's raspy voice echoed inside Keyon's mind. While the intrusion upon Kenyon's anger was unwanted, Keyon knew that he would never be able to scale these sheer walls.

Keyon sent another glare up to the guard tower before answering his Minion Master. "I'm open to suggestions Gnarl."

Back at the tower, Gnarl clicked his long nails together in thought. There was a trick that his father had done to gain entrance but there was no telling what Keyon would encounter along the way. "There is a way in through the defenses, but you will have to return all of your Browns, Reds, and Greens to the Tower Sire. They will not be able to swim."

If Keyon's face wasn't hidden by his helmet's magic his Minions would have noticed the unsure expression he had as he looked at his heavy armor. "Swim?"

---

Ziva felt humiliated as she scrubbed the floor, sure that Keyon and that disgusting toad Gnarl had both sworn that no harm would come to her as long as she obeyed they did not tell her that she'd have to scrub a room this size before she could eat. That and having to wear a slave's rags that barely covered anything was another total dishonor entirely. The throne room was indeed vast, it may have been better than death or scrubbing the 'green Minions' as Gnarl called those foul smelling green goblins that were carrying debris from the multiple stairways to throw off the balcony.

Ziva had once attempted to gather clean water from the pool nearby but before she could Gnarl had struck her on the head with that staff of his. He then proceeded to shout and threaten her with torture if she ever went near it again. Unclear why shy could not use the water from that pool, she asked one of the Browns to go fetch her more water. The Brown took her bucket and returned with such speed that the farm girl had only a minute to rest before having to return to her work..

No sooner than Ziva had returned to her scrubbing of the floors Gnarl had moved over to the pool and begun muttering to himself. It sounded to her like he was practicing some planned monologue part by part while he stared into the glowing waters of the pool. Wait, glowing? Ziva blinked and halted her cleaning, walking as quietly as possible over to investigate the source of the light. To her surprise now in the pool where once was a seemingly endless black depth was now a glowing reflection of her new 'master' wading into a river towards what looked like large pipe with skeletons around it. Behind Keyon were between fifteen blue colored 'Minions' swimming with far more grace than their armored leader.

The reason why Gnarl didn't want her near that pool was made clear, it was magical. Ziva didn't know anything about magic, monsters, or magical objects like this pool having been raised on a farm all eighteen years of her life but she could guess from what she saw that this pool was important to Gnarl and Keyon. Slowly she snuck back to her brush and continued her appointed task by scrubbing Keyon's throne that stood at the back of the room on a round dais.

Absently Ziva looked at the broken statues lining the walls, the burned carpet that stretched from the throne to the magic pool. The holes in the roof were currently being patched by Minions on hurriedly built scaffoldings. Guessing from the height she had to guess it was a good seventy feet up there, suddenly she found herself degraded to scrubbing the floor. Gnarl could have had her up there putting the roof back in order or hauling heavy chunks of rock down spiral staircases.

---

Keyon felt utterly disgusted as his armored feet sloshed through the water that flowed through the city's sewer system. The stink was another matter, it smelled like a wet Green who had eaten an entire bag of beans. He was sad to say that he actually DID know how bad that smelled. Long story short, his father had allowed Spree to pay their weekly taxes in food and the Minions got into the case of beans. He remembered it was hard to go into the lower sections of the Tower for weeks afterwards.

The Blues behind him however were unaffected by the smell and thought nothing of wading in the fetid waters to follow their master. Of course even if Keyon wasn't there they probably would have anyway if there was enough reason (food, something shiny, etc).

Another rat ran over Keyon's boot as he took another step, this was becoming intolerable. He made a note to remember this situation while he was choking the life out of the damned Cleric. Thinking on that note, Keyon remembered his mother talking about those warrior priests on more than one occasion.

"Clerics are unpredictable warriors, more so than most Keyon." Rose had told her son as she pointed to various holy and unholy symbols in the countless scrolls and books that littered Keyon's room. To many mistress Rose seemed like a prim and proper woman but in reality she was analytical, intelligent, and capable of devising a multitude of plans ranging from devices to battlefield tactics. "Depending on the god or goddess the Cleric worships, the Cleric could have a multitude of powers. However if you can recognize what god the Cleric worships it should become obvious of their limitations. Ergo a Cleric that worships a fire god would never use spells that conjure ice or water and vice versa."

Keyon remembered the lessons she went into clearly, his mother was a stickler for memorization and would quiz him on various subjects everyday and scolded him when he failed. Keyon remembered the long hours of studying his mother put him through when he forgot the names of the gods the Elves no longer worshiped in favor for the deity they called the 'Mother Goddess'. More specifically he remembered how his mother had kept him from arena until all his studies were finished, and how he was usually too exhausted to fight after his mother's eight hours or tutelage.

But right now, those tedious lessons were looked back on with more appreciation than trolling through the foul smelling waters of Heaven's Peak... The skeletons were a nice touch that Keyon wanted to add to the Tower as decorations but the smell was far too much to stand. The only opposition they found came in the form of small blue beetles that were given to Keyon to store within his gauntlet. Before setting out on this mission Gnarl had explained that he did not have to send Minions back to the Tower Gate to send life force back to the Tower, instead the gauntlet Keyon wore could store life force within the magical gem that it bore. When he returned to the Tower he could pour the plundered life essence out into the Spawning pit when he returned after smiting the Cleric.

To be continued.

Keyon's current corruption level: 3 percent.

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to update before people forgot about this fic. I'm still working on it!

Anon - It's alive, just very slow because of other projects of mine.

blackrogue123 - Yeah, but the Overlord in the game didn't have a sense of humor. In fact he didn't even have personality. He was just like the main character from Fable.

Tabansi232 - Yeah. She's pretty much hopeless right now. XD

FTKnight - Well the slaves you get in the game say that he's constantly staring at them. Meaning he's lecherous. XP

Long live Warhammer40k - I try to keep myself to higher standards. Thanks for reviewing! -thumbs up-

Cre A. Tor00x - Always nice to have another reviewer! Welcome aboard the crazy train.


	6. Of peasents and jesters

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 6

Ziva wiped the sweat from her brow as she stood up to stretch her back. The farm girl had finished the last dais step and was looking over her work with some degree of pride. She knew she would receive no praise for her labor but she had done a good job. She sat down on the lowest step to rest and to watch the Minions who were still hard at work repairing the Tower. Ziva found the little creatures to be incredible, none of them seemed tired and they only stopped occasionally when one Minion dropped a rock of another minion's foot to hop around in pain, or if one hit his clawed hand with a hammer, or something similar.

The amount of work the little imps had done since she had last looked up from her brush was staggering. Every hole in the roof was patched with rough cut rock and mortar and they were now starting to repair the cracks and holes in the walls. All she had done was scrub the entire throne and the steps around it and her shoulders were just about at their limits. Ziva still had the entire floor to do too before she could go to bed, the soreness that had already sunk into her muscles was just a taste of what she would feel when she was done. Maybe later when that Keyon guy had come back he would pity her enough that she could get some of those hard working gremlins to do some of this work.

Ziva took a few steps to exercise her legs when she inadvertently slipped on the still wet step and fell to the floor, scraping her knees. A faint cry of pain escaped Ziva's lips as she felt the sting of her minor injury, the farm girl whined as she turned on the ground to inspect her knees. There was no blood but they were plenty red.

"Ha ha! The new wench fell down!" Jester screeched, laughing as he danced happily twirling his jingling baton around.

Ziva growled in defiance. She may be a slave but she would never take that kind of taunting from a nasty little gremlin wearing a court jester get up. Gripping her wooden brush the young lady threw it with all her might at Jester who was dancing around, amused as much by his own joke as his Ziva hurting herself. Jester was so distracted with his own acrobatics that didn't even see the brush coming, there was a loud 'THWACK' that echoed throughout the throne room, attracting attention from the working Minions. Even gnarl looked back from the magical pool to see what had happened.

Ziva had expected Gnarl to chew her out again after seeing Jester lying on his face on the cold stone floor. But the old Minion just chuckled and returned to staring at the image in the pool, mildly amused but not upset that Ziva had defended her honor. Besides, keeping an eye on the young Overlord was more important than watching Jester getting his empty head knocked around.

"You pay for that!" Jester howled, leaping to his feet and brandishing his jester baton like a club and charged at the farm girl turned slave.

Ziva had figuratively put her foot down, she may have had to scrub that murdering bastard's throne but she would not back down to some little monster wearing a jester cap. As Jester neared her in his charge the jibbering Brown Minion leapt into the air to bash the uppity slave in the head with the metal tip of the baton. Jester's eyes darted from the scowl on the young lady's face to the sight of her slender arm that was sung back and her balled fist.

There was a loud 'POW' as every Minion, Gnarl included turned once more to see Jester laying knocked out on the floor for real this time. Many of the lesser Minions cheered and laughed at the slave who had just knocked Jester out. Not because Jester was disliked, far from it. They just enjoyed seeing the sight of anyone in pain, and this time it just happened to be the old annoying Brown.

"Well done milady." Gnarl said, clapping his hands from his spot by the pool. He was staring right at her with his unearthly yellow eyes. "Show that much spunk around here and you'll go places."

"Go places?" Ziva asked, turning to look at the old Minion. But Gnarl had already returned to staring into the pool. Ziva sighed as she went back to washing the floor.

---

As Keyon stomped up the steps to the main road, feeling in dire need for a long cleansing bath he could see the residents of Heaven's Peak going about their small daily lives in the market place. The damage that had been done by Khan's rampage all those years ago had long been repaired and mostly forgotten by those who could remember it. He remembered visiting Heaven's peak once with his father, the massive walls of the city were still in disrepair from Khan's massive flail, a trophy that was put in the spawning pit along with the weapons of the other seven heroes his father killed. (1)

The townspeople gave this armored man odd stares as they passed him by. They knew from their hero Fern Dawnborn that the Overlord was dead and thus this man had to be an imposter. The people of Heaven's Peak had to pay taxes to the Overlord for his protection as well as the occasional furnishing that the Overlord would pay for with the very money they had to hand over to him. But the Overlord did save the townspeople from their uncaring ruler Sir William the Black who sat around having lavish parties in the Halfway to Heaven Inn's basement and Angelis Keep while the townspeople fought for their lives against a plague that was turning people into flesh eating zombies. Once Keyon's father had slain the succubus Queen and Sir William, the entire town gladly paid him monthly tribute as they would have given their former leader. Once Kahn arrived, bringing with him all his wrath, raiders, and Watchers (2)

Around him Keyon could hear the villagers whispering to each other. Keyon didn't really care about what these peons thought of him, he was the Overlord and son of the man who owned this land and most importantly he wanted the head of the cleric.

Keyon grabbed the nearest peasant, a man of forty at least and lifted him up by his neck to prevent him from running away. Keyon wanted to make his point as perfectly clear as possible. "Tell me peasant, where is Fern Dawnborn? Where is the cleric that dared to enter my Tower?"

The older man grasped at the hands that held him in the air, struck with unfathomable terror as he stared into Keyon's red eyes. "Y-y-you're really h-him?"

"Him?" Keyon growled, his eyes glowing red from under his helmet.

This forty-so year old peasant remembered seeing the Overlord as he arrived in Heaven's peak, and he saw as he slew Khan, a giant of a man who swept aside the Silent Order's Fallen Knights like they were children's toys. And now the same man was demanding to know where the one who claimed to have killed the Overlord. "Are you really the Overlord who killed Sir William?"

"Aye." Keyon said, not letting his burning gaze ease up for even a second. "Now tell me where Fern Dawnborn is. My axe as a burning desire to cleft her head in twine."

"Sh-sh-she's in Angelis Keep lord!" The ugly peasant blubbered, he was so scared of Keyon that tears were coming from his eyes. "But she's got the Silent Order under her command as well as the Fallen Knights! No one can even get close to the Keep without getting their throats cut."

Having heard enough of the older man's cowardness Keyon dropped the peasant who promptly crawled away before getting up to run full pitch down the streets. Keyon didn't know this but he ran straight home and hid under his bed for the rest of the day. Keyon turned to the terrified peasants around him, Gnarl was right these people were almost as stupid and will less as sheep. More over he was surprised how much stronger he was, he was able to lift the middle aged man with relative ease. Weeks before he couldn't have done that. What this the result of becoming the Overlord?

"Tell me what this cleric has done in my absence." Keyon demanded, whipping up a quick lie. "I go off to a foreign land to scout out a few gold mines and I discover my Tower ransacked and seven heroes claiming to have killed me. What has this cleric done to my wonderful city?"

One of the older men came forth, looking upon his master with fear and respect. "M-my lord... When Lady Dawnborn arrived with claims of your death we were skeptical. But when she presented the city with all the gold from your treasury we knew that there was no way she could have stolen it... We honestly thought you were dead Sire..."

Keyon's only answer was a low growl, one that was echoed by his Blue Minions.

Another worthless peasant stepped forward. "She's terrible Sire, she's shut down the Halfway to Heaven Inn and she's put a thousand coin fee on anyone caught making or drinking alcohol. She's also taken many of our children away and is forcing them into rigorous training to become clerics."

"We were wrong to trust her sire, please save our children!" One hysterical mother cried, actually daring to grip the young Overlord by his shoulders and shake him.

"Enough." Keyon ordered, shoving the woman aside. "Drop the drawbridges and I will spare your lives for making me find my way in through that wretched sewer. I will be coming back with an army to set everything right again and I WILL be expecting gold and goods for my trouble."

The people of Heaven's Peak had never felt so good to see their Overlord before, even if he seemed to be somewhat shorter than they remembered from his last visit. They thought best not to dwell on the idea and accept this man as the Overlord, after all he might solve their problems for them and if he died they could just tell Dawnborn that he was some loon in armor that barged into town.

---

"... I will be coming back with an army to set everything right again."

Ziva's head shot up as she scrubbed the floor near the black pool. Before she had only heard Gnarl muttering to himself as the wrinkled monster stared at the silent image of Keyon choking an innocent peasant and threatening others with death. Now she could hear Keyon's armored footsteps on the ground and the jabbering of the Blue Minions that followed him.

Ziva held her head tightly, trying desperately to drown out the loud clanging of Keyon's metal boots which was constantly growing louder and louder. "What... is this?"

"What are you talking about?" He grumbled, turning his head. The old Minion had to rub his eyes from staring at the pool for nearly an hour.

The sound was deafening now, Ziva was thrashing about on the ground with her hands over her ears and blood on her fingers where she had dug into her skull. "Make it stop! It's too loud!"

"Too loud?" Gnarl blinked as he stared at the girl with a confused expression. "What's too loud?"

"The clanging!" Ziva screamed, making the Minions who were working cringe an back away. Whatever was happening to her they did not want to happen to them.

Gnarl scratched his chin, not fully understanding what was going on until he remembered what he had heard long about some of the more gifted human children. "Seems like we got ourselves a servant with some potential… Mouldy! Snivel! Get over here and drag her to the back of the Throne room!"

Two Brown Minions immediately rushed over to grab the young lady by the arms and physically drag her away from the Tower's watery gate. Just as Gnarl expected the girl ceased her screaming and calmed down considerably although she was out of breath and red in the face.

"As I suspected, you my dear have the potential to speak with the young master through the gate, however you have no control over this power at all." Gnarl had no need to shout, the echo of the room carried his voice to her since all work had stopped to watch the spectacle below. "Rest for now, then get back to work on that floor. I expect you to keep away from the Tower gate."

Ziva nodded from where she lay on the floor, still trying to catch her breath. While normally Ziva would've been extremely annoyed at Gnarl's lack of compassion, Ziva was too tired to care right now.

---

To be continued.

---

(1) I know I skipped a lot of time between him in the sewers and him going in but I don't think a lot of walking and complaining is really worth mentioning.

(2) I believe that's what they called the beholder like creatures in the game...

I thought it might be fun to list what Keyon's father did, the 2nd known Overload, the nameless one you play as. Bear in mind that I haven't played Overlord: Raising Hell yet so I have no idea what happens in my fic's timeline between Keyon's birth and the end of Overlord. (I've seen bits and pieces of it on youtube but I have very little info on what happens) Please bare in mind the following list means that depending what happened in what order his corruption level is arguable.

He killed 20 villagers.

He suppressed Spree.

He started a fight in the bar.

He took 10 girls as slaves. (Gotta keep that Tower clean!)

He gave Spree the peasant's food back. (More accurately he sold it back to them)

He didn't burn the sacred grove. (Saw killing the unicorns without fire as a challenge)

He didn't feed the elves to the slugs (so they could carry more gold to the tower gate for him).

He chose Rose as his mistress. (He valued her loyalty more than Velvet's advances)

He saved the Elven women and gave the elves back their worthless statue in exchange for eternal fealty to him.

He killed the Traitors. (They betrayed him after all he did for him!)

Now for Author replies to reviews...

Black

Always glad to see a new reviewer. Glad to have you aboard.

anon

Woohoo indeed.

blackrogue123

I'm glad someone noticed the corruption meter. Trust me, there's more surprises to come!

spedclass

Wow... 5 reviews telling me to update soon. So many reviews... Must... write... aaaargh...

cassidy

Nah, I'm still writing this. I'm just really slow.


	7. Assualt on Angelis Keep

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 7

The Fallen Knights are not normal fighters. Their kind has never been since Sir William came back from his crusade against the evil Overlord with the Durium smelter and crafted armor for the local holy men's disciples to help defend Heaven's Peak. Now new warriors were wearing this strong magical armor. Warriors that were not there when the Overlord humbled them and the Silent Order declared him their new god in exchange for their lives. Now they served Fern Dawnborn of the newly created Church of the Sacred Flame, as did the Silent Order. With proof of her victory with the entirety Overlord's gold she now funded the Fallen Knight's services quite well.

Keyon now looked around a corner of a house, counting the number of black armored knights patrolling the bridge and standing guard at the bottom of the stairs. No doubt there were equal amounts of knights standing guard at the top of the stairs and more at the top of the second flight of stairs and the rest of their numbers inside the Keep itself. To Keyon rescuing the children the peasants wanted back so much was only a side effect of his vengeance.

Behind him, Keyon's squad of Minions were lazily picking their noses and trading weapons and helmets based on their factor of shiny-ness. They were bored from waiting all this time, but they knew if they wandered off they would be left behind and a lone Minion always ended up dead. The true reason the Minions followed the first Overlord was due to his greater intellect and for protection. The Overlord could efficiently direct them so that Minions will do the most damage while sustaining the least amount of casualties.

Right now Keyon had memorized the patrols of the two Knights on the bridge, a frontal assault would be dangerous but there was no other way into Angelis Keep. With the four spells he had access to and a large squad of Minions behind him he bet he might be able to wear them down until he could enter. His only concern was if the Silent Order was there and they would heal the Fallen Knights from a distance. The idea of fighting a constantly regenerating army was not a very advantageous event. Looking back at his Minions he had chosen to bring along with him he could see three blues to hold back and resurrect any Minions who died before the true battle started, five Reds to attack at a distance, and seven Greens to assist the twenty well armed Browns in battle.

"Right." Keyon said at last, getting his Minion's attention. "Time to kill a cleric."

Gripping his axe Keyon charged out from behind the house, making the hand for the slow spell with his free hand. With a motion of his axe Keyon told his Browns and Greens to attack. Before the four Knights at the front gate knew that they were being attacked they suddenly felt their armor grow heavy and their footsteps became difficult. Before the ones on the bridge could even fully turn around they felt rusty blades pierce the joints in their armor and they fell to the ground.

"Wwwwwhaaat'sssss goin-Grk!" Was as far as a Fallen Knight got before a Green Minion had leapt onto his back and sank the blades attached to its wrists into his neck.

Keyon gave a audible grunt as he released the breath he held while he had focused on the slow spell. Recalling his Minions to his side he charged towards the second flight of stairs. No doubt they were aware of his presence and things would be far more difficult. Just as he thought there were four more Fallen Knights already storming down the stairway and four more beginning their decent of the higher, second flight of stairs.

Taking another breath Keyon made a different hand sign, and upon releasing his held breath a ball of fire escaped his free hand and collided with the nearest knight. The knight let out a muffled scream as the knight's armor became searing hot and the stag antlers on his helmet burst into flame. As the Browns and Greens charged the first knight his knees were smashed with a large hammer and sharp claws ended his life as he saw a Green's arm blades.

The Blues were still hiding behind their master and so were the Reds, but the Red Minions were already vomiting out balls of flaming napalm and were throwing them at the second knight. A few seconds later his helmet was ripped off by a Green and was taken out. The third and fourth Fallen Knights found themselves surrounded by nasty little creatures who were hacking and beating their armor until they fell to the ground where their beating only intensified.

'Eight knights down and not one of my Minions was slain... a good start.' Keyon thought as he recalled his Minions to his side and hurried up the stairs.

---

"He's doing quite well so far." Gnarl said, pleased to see the boy taking to dealing death in the name of retribution so quickly. "Still there's far more to do than just dispatching a single wave of underlings."

The Minions were still hard at work repairing the walls of the Tower but Ziva was far to busy to notice their achievements. She was about to finish scrubbing the floor, then she could get some real rest and hopefully something to eat. Come to think of it, she hadn't eaten since she had breakfast at her farm. Having dealt with the Minions to bring her clean water for her to clean with Ziva decided that the only way she'd get any food was to demand it from a lesser Minion, as luck would have it a Brown was hauling rubble past her right now.

"Hey um, you there!" Ziva yelled at the Brown with more bravado than actual ----- "I'd like you to bring me something to eat."

The Minion looked at her curiously, then it looked at Gnarl as if waiting for approval for this task. When no such approval or scolding for ceasing in its task came, the long eared goblin set it's rock down and dashed down the stairwell that led to the Spawning Pit and disappear. A few minutes later it came back to happily present her with a handful of beetles.

"That's disgusting! I'm not eating that!" Ziva had never liked bugs as a child and was disgusted to her core to even think that's all she would have to eat from now on. Recovering quickly from the sight of the crawling hard shelled insects she calmed down and thought about this. Keyon was without a doubt not the kind to eat beetles and grubs like a Minion, he carried himself with far too much nobility. He must have some private food stock that was kept far away from the Minions, human food.

"Does your master have any food up in his room that you're not supposed to touch?" Ziva asked as she reluctantly scratched the Minion's rough, leathery chin.

The Brown's tongue fell out as it smiled, releasing a content sigh before rolling its eyes for a moment. Ziva was even more disgusted now with the little beast than before, she reminded herself to wash her hands before she ate anything. The lack of an answer also unnerved her.

"Does master have food you aren't allowed to eat?" Ziva repeated the question.

The Minion nodded its head, and wiggled its ears a little.

Finally she was getting somewhere. "Can you take me to where he hides?"

"Not so fast girly." Gnarl snorted, again not even glancing back at the slave girl.

"How did you-"

"Hear you? These ears aren't long for no reason girl." Gnarl wiggled his long pointy ears to show her by example. Then again the throne room echoed something fierce. "Presently our food reserves are short since Spree is no longer subjugated and freely handing over food to cover their tithes. And you Sluggo, get back to work!"

The Brown mock-saluted and picked its rock back up and continued on with its task.

"Then what am I supposed to eat?" Ziva snorted, "I am not eating beetles."

"Don't be silly, I wouldn't feed you such nice crunchy crawly things." Gnarl said. "The master may be in a position to rectify our food supplies soon enough. Just wait."

Ziva snorted and sat on the dais around the throne. She crossed her arms and cast a cynical look at Gnarl's back. 'He had better get here with food soon, I hate waiting when I'm hungry.'

---

With a fall of his axe Keyon severed the head of the final Fallen Knight. Keyon felt irritated that the guards had taken that long to deal with, but since he took his time he had not taxed his magical stamina to any extremes and the Blues he had with him were healing one the Greens who had been impaled by a well placed sword to the ribs. Keyon took a breath to steady himself and pushed open the doors to Angelis Keep and cautiously entered with his Minions right behind him.

Inside the doors were a short hallway containing a few Minion Gates, Keyon attempted to summon a few more Greens but nothing happened when he focused his mind into the pool of green light.

"Hmmm... looks like some kind of magical barrier Lord." Gnarl said, speaking directly to the young man's mind. "Must be that cleric's doing. I guess you'll have to make the best of what Minions you have at hand."

Keyon cursed, partly due the annoyance of having to retreat if things became too difficult and his Minions were all killed but mostly the obvious power this cleric had to block his own commands to HIS Minion Gates.

Keyon slowly entered the adjacent room, ready to strike if Fallen Knights were ready to ambush him. This new room was large, fifty to seventy feet square feet with a high ceiling. It was lavishly decorated with elegant red sofas, vases filled with fresh roses and brazen chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There were three exits from this large room, from where Keyon had just entered, and two wooden double doors on the right and left walls. At the back of the room were two short staircases, both leading to a small balcony that was about teen feet off the ground.

A voluptuous woman was standing at the top of the balcony wearing dark blue robes, an ornate gold circlet on her head, had a crescent moon shaped shield in her left hand and in the right was a highly polished metal mace. Behind her were two aged members of the Silent Order wearing crescent moon insignias on their white robes.

"Who dares to spill blood in this sanctuary of the Order of the holy Moon?" Her expression shifted from rage to perplexed as her gaze fell on what appeared to be the very man she had slain only weeks before. "Are you some sort of unholy spirit sent by the gods to test me? Some demon that needs to be exorcised from this good and pure land?"

While the woman was shouting down at Keyon the two stitched-lipped Silent Order members looked down with terror at the sight of the specter of their former living god. Deep in their fading memories they remembered how the Overlord spared their lives in exchange for their vassalage and worship. Had he returned from beyond the grave to wreck vengeance upon them? That's what they believed.

The woman looked back at the two old men and snorted, their lack of faith disgusted her greatly. "Fear nothing, for the moon god will not allow any of his followers to die at the hands of such a foul man."

"I am here for the head of Fern Dawnborn. That is all you need to know." Keyon spat, what ever nobility that he have previously carried himself with was lost in his want for blood and being ignored by this woman wasn't making his disposition any better. "Are you she, witch?"

"Aye, I am." Fern Dawnborn said, leaping over the railing of the balcony to land on one of the red love seats left over from Sir William's days before leaping to the floor with her mace and shield at the ready. "Be assured that I will meet any challenge the Moon god sets before me!"

Keyon gritted his teeth, this woman's mindless fanaticism was quickly eroding any patience he had left. "Come wench, come to me and prepare to go to the abyss!"

"Why so hasty? This would be an excellent test for my new brothers of the faith!" The cleric put her fingers to her lips and released a shrill whistle, calling for reinforcements.

Ten Fallen Knights burst in from the two heavy wooden doors all wearing the same crescent moon shaped medallion on their armor marched into the room both doors. All of them heavily armed with broadswords and shields shaped to resemble the cleric's very own. Keyon was not happy with these numbers, with all of these lackeys he could never get close to Fern to do any harm with his axe.

"I had heard that you have taken an interest in the children of this city. Not a very holy thing to do." Keyon mused, stifling his urge to leap into battle. He needed to keep his head to deal with this many enemies at once. Inwardly he cursed that he had not brought his mace, a better weapon against armored opponents than his axe.

Fern scowled at Keyon from across the room. "I am saving them from the perverse nature of this city! The sleaze, the booze, all of it is evil and unfit for those who seek purity!"

"And who will decide what is evil?" Keyon laughed, enjoying the sight of this fanatic trying to justify her actions.

"Enough! Knights of the Holy Moon attack!" Fern shrieked, holding back to let her lackeys do her dirty work.

The knights charged, only to hesitate when three of their number fell to the floor dead, roasted inside their armor by fireballs. Keyon was out of magical stamina, gripping his axe he would have to make the best of this weapon. Pointing a finger at the knight farthest to the right all of his Brown and Green Minions charged the one black armored man. The sight of twenty seven little monsters is a scary sight to anyone who is used to just shaking down peasants for gold and abducting children, as this one knight screamed as the first Green leapt onto his shoulder and stabbed him in the eye due to his helmet's lack of a face guard.

The knights nearest to this newly created corpse rushed in to attack the Minions, not wanting to share his fate. Swords fell and a Brown was without his left hand, a Green was missing his ear, another Brown was disarmed and lead back to Keyon for protection. The young Overlord clenched his gauntlet, focusing on the gauntlet's gem to send out a dull 'thrum' that only he and his Minions could hear. The Minions that had engaged their attackers were now fleeing back to their master where the aquatic Blue Minions could begin healing the injured. At this time the Reds had taken up a position behind their master and were now throwing balls of flaming bile at the knights.

The knights shrugged off the foul smelling napalm and charged at the armored man who had commanded the creatures who had killed their comrade. Keyon raised his axe and slammed it into the side of the closest knight, the old durium armor resisted the steel but the impact alone was enough to drop the knight to his knee, holding his aching head. However, being that far down provided a easy target for a Brown armed with a farmer's sickle.

Their numbers cut in half so quickly, the remaining knights fell back to Fern's position. All five of them unsure if their new allegiance to Fern Dawnborn and her moon god was a good decision, this man was powerful enough to kill five of their number with hardly any effort, and counting his little monsters he had them outnumbered six to one.

"You doubtful sinners!" Fern spat, clanging one of her own warriors in the back of the head with her mace. She turned her rage to the old men standing on the balcony who were looking at her with stoic interest. "Well get to work and revive these noble warriors who gave their lives?"

"Can you not do it yourself?" One of the Fallen Knights asked, not sure why the cleric had not aided them in battle.

Fern turned back to the black armored knight, who slunk back away from her just in case she would swing at him. "Don't be silly! One of my station does not lower herself when I have those who could do it for me!"

The knights began to whisper and mutter to themselves, even the village idiot could tell all that righteous fervor was nothing more than hot air. The Fallen Knights were not stupid, lumbering and a little greedy maybe but they were never stupid. The two members of the Silent Order were also showing more backbone, not willing to be pushed around now that their true god had returned to Heaven's Peak. In the time since Fern had taken power the Order's number had dwindled and their respect among the populous had plummeted to almost nothing. They wanted the Overlord back.

"Traitors! Sinners all!" Fern screamed, bashing the remaining knights with her mace so she could force her way into the room to the right and slammed the doors behind her.

Keyon approached the knights who were groaning in pain from the injuries the cleric inflicted. The two members of the Silent Order climbed down the stair to address who they thought was their master returned to destroy this usurper.

The taller member of the Silent Order approached Keyon and mumbled something incoherent due to his lips being stitched shut. Keyon stared at him for a second not sure how he should respond to that, thankfully Gnarl decided now was a good time to contact his young master.

"Master, the old man with the interesting tastes in facial accessories is asking for your mercy and to accept them as your servants again." Gnarl explained. "Personally I'd show them you mean business by decapitating one of them just to show that you're in charge, but that might be a tad excessive."

Keyon understood, and reached down to grasp a Fallen Knight by the antlers on his helmet and the lift him to his feet. The man in the armor was staring straight into red glowing eyes on an obscured face. "Tell me, how did Fern Dawnborn acquire your miniscule talents?"

"She arrived one day with more gold than any of us had ever seen." The man under the armor pleaded, "With her claims of her slaying the Overlord and all the gold from his- your coffers... Without your blessed ruler ship we had to get in good with the cleric or else we would be unemployed. But with your return we would be honored to serve you oh lord and master!"

Keyon knew that was a crock but he would allow them a chance to prove themselves of some use. "Very well. I will allow you to live on the condition you guard this room and do not let the wench to escape."

"After I have the cleric's head and my gold, I will leave the Silent Order in charge in my absence." Keyon noted the smiles leave the young knight's faces at the mention of the gold but the old men in robes smirked, they enjoyed seeing their true master show these young people who was in charge. "I will trust you two to keep things in order, but my trust only goes so far."

Keyon left the Fallen Knights and the Silent Order to their guard duty to enter the unbarred door. The cleric's time was quickly running out.

---

To be continued.

---

Still waiting to get my hands on raising hell expansion pack... I already know the ending to it but I WANT to play it. Also, I never found any use for any of the spells in the game aside from Fireball, Flamethrower, and the 3rd level spell of that kind (uncorrupted or corrupted). There's one area in the Brewery that I found one use for the 3rd level Domination spell but that's it. (The second floor where the crossbow dwarves carve your minions up like thanksgiving turkeys from a ledge you can't reach or hit with fire spells.)

spedclass

Thanks.

blackrogue123

You should see how quickly they turn on the Overlord in the vids on youtube. They first peons to come to the Spree Abyss gate think it's a gift from the gods and gleefully leap into it to escape their 'dark lord'. That and I take Gnarl's line 'they have the loyalty of potatoes' to be fairly accurate.

anon

Will do.

Black

YOU sir made my day with that review. I love seeing more than just 'great job'. I noticed that whole 'telepathy' trick the mistress (regardless who you choose) uses to talk to you while the Wizard threatens you. But my guess is that magical talent is passed on through family (despite Keyon being less than satisfactory with it even though he's related to the wizard).

But don't worry, just like in the game Keyon will have a choice. The second choice for mistress won't appear for a while though... And in the spirit of the game where you choose who the Overlord ends up with, I'm letting my reviewers choose which one. Of course I won't count any votes until the time occurs.

cassidy

Thank you.


	8. Holy Rage

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 8

Keyon's armored boots on Angelis Keep's hard stone floor announced his presence as he entered the large party room. The room had undergone some alterations since he was here years ago. The walls had been repainted a dark blue and the furniture had been replaced with religious paraphernalia, statues of a man standing behind a crescent moon, lit braziers, and a stone altar under the same insignia the cleric was wearing... Keyon stopped to look closer at the holy symbol. He did not recall seeing this in all his years of study with his mother. Was this some lost forgotten god or was this moon god just a front to gather followers?

The rooms Keyon continued to pass through were decorated in increasingly lavish images of the cleric's god, but Keyon faced no opposition other than the echo of his own Minion's jabbering. As Keyon passed a hallway that consisted of various barred doors he swore he heard something that was not his Minions. It was too faint to tell what it was exactly but after listening for a minute or two he managed to locate the door it was coming from. Pointing a finger at the door and releasing a magical sound from his gauntlet his Browns began tearing at the door with their weapons and leathery hands. In under a minute the door was nothing but slivers and the Minions retreated to their master's side.

Beyond the door was a small windowless, lightless room filled with children ranging between those who looked like they were barely beyond the crib and others were just beginning their teenage years. All of them looked upon the young Overlord and his Minions with terror as they shrank from him towards the corner. Some of the older children moved in front of their younger siblings in a feeble attempt to protect them against this foreboding man.

"Ah, looks like you found the missing children Sire." Gnarl said, seeing everything from far away in the tower. "Well, they are your next generation of worshippers and workers, but being so young they would give us a tremendous amount of life force... Do what you will young master, but make it quick. No telling what that cleric is planning."

Keyon sighed, he had no experience with children and he had no idea how to handle this many at once. The children began to scream and cry at the sight of an investigating Brown who wandered into the room to see what his master was looking at. Killing these little brats would be a simple task for his Minions, but Keyon needed followers more than life force. Keyon ordered his Minions back and pointed in the direction he came with his axe.

"Head that way if you wish to see your precious families again." Keyon growled, already having quite enough of all the crying and wailing. "Well?"

That one stern 'well' was enough to get most of the children on their feet and started fleeing as fast as they could towards the exit. The others who were still cowering the corners found themselves without the protection of the others and ran to catch up with their friends.

Keyon was grateful that experience was over with. The less time he had to spend baby sitting the better. Leading his horde away from the small room the children had been crammed into and towards a sharp turn in the hallway.

The next room the young Overlord and his Minions came to was a large room, easily over two hundred square feet with a high ceiling and large cathedral like windows featuring a bearded man in a blue robe holding the moon. From the condition of the west wall it appeared as if had been recently remodeled to allow that monstrous stone statue sitting in the corner to be brought in. The statue was unpainted and exactly the same as the images in the windows. Before the idol was a large brazier with a powerful fire burning in it. This must be the center of worship for this cleric, and unless she was a charlatan only claiming to be a priestess she would never abandon this place without a fight.

Keyon scanned the room carefully for any sign of the wretched cleric. He was tried of this whole chase and simply wanted it to end in the bloody and violent death of Fern Dawnborn so he could go home to rest before setting off to kill another hero. One of the Minions let out an excited growl as he pointed to across the room where Fern Dawnborn stood.

"Do you know who I am? I am Fern Dawnborn! High cleric of the moon god! I control all of Heaven's Peak! I-"

"Am a loony." Keyon finished her righteous statement with a coy smirk. "The violent death I gave those warped children you sent against me were only a sample of my wrath. Prepare to go to your god wench."

"You will pay for all of your interference!" Fern was red with anger as she pulled a whistle from her robes and blew it. A dozen young men and women, no older than ten and no younger than six stepped out from behind the idol in the corner, all wearing blue robes and holding knives. They were not the same children from before, these were children that had been broken down by the cleric's torments until they had excepted the idol as their only savior.

Fern Dawnborn smirked, sure that this would spell the end for this intruder. "Surely you wouldn't kill your own follower's children! Attack!"

The children screamed as they ran towards the armored man that had threatened their high priestess. In their fanatic and childish minds there was only one solution; kill this bad armored man.

Keyon chuckled and pointed at the children, a loud battle cry came from the Minions as they all rushed in. The children's panic and inexperience in the face of thirty armed Minions resulted in twelve new corpses on the floor. The Minions were cheering and jumping around in the glee of victory in the name of their master.

Fern was dumbstruck, she had honestly expected the Moon god to stir some semblance of compassion in this monster and allow himself to be struck down. Obviously this man was protected by another god, it was the only other explanation the cleric could think of. The Minions gathered up the life force of the children and delivered it to Keyon who absorbed it into his magical gauntlet for later deposit into the Minion hives.

Fern Dawnborn, seeing the last of her loyal servants fall to this creature ran across the room to the side of the massive stone idol of her god. "You won't defeat me! Not while I have the moon god on my side!"

The cleric moved her hand to the back of the statue where she pulled an unseen lever down. There was the sound of creaking gears and a loud unrecognizable clicking coming from inside the statue, clearly it had to be hollow with some sort of clockwork machine inside. Keyon noticed that the statue's mouth was opening and a small point of light from deeper within the idol's head. Realizing that this was a trap, Keyon leapt to the side just before a large ball of fire descended from the statue.

Keyon looked back at his horde of Minions, a loud aggravated growl escaped his clenched teeth at the sight of both Blues, all his Greens, and half of his Browns were burned to a near black crisp. His Reds were a little woozy from the impact but they were fine. Still, a moon statue that breathed fire? That didn't make a lot of sense. Clerics usually only used traps and devices that reflected the nature of their gods. More than that such a weapon normally wouldn't be housed in the main idol of a cleric's temple.

"An interesting toy wench." Keyon snorted, getting back to his feet and slowly stalking towards the nearest flight of stairs. "I look forward to having my Minions refashion it into a more fitting likeness. Namely my own. I think it will go well at the temple I plan on having the people build for the Silent Order."

Keyon's attitude was all bravado. Without the Blues his horde was without healers and was already cut down to less than half. If she had more traps like that than the young Overlord was in trouble. Still the longer he kept her talking the better his chances of getting in close for an attack.

"You would build a temple for those withered old fools?" Fern spat, infuriated at the idea for the idol of her god to be reshaped and those feeble minded men to be put in charge of her city. "You will die for such heresy!"

That was enough for the cleric, she raised her mace behind her and charged at the young Overlord with her shield in front of her for a charge. In response Keyon ordered his Reds to stay behind and begin to fling their napalm like saliva at the cleric as she charged, his Browns psyched themselves up as they ran ahead to defend the Overlord from this woman in armor.

The balls of fire slammed harmlessly into the cleric's shield but the Browns managed to climb on Fern's back and hang from her arms as they attacked her mercilessly. The armor beneath her robes absorbed most of the blows but while they did not result in cuts or slashes there were already painful bruises beginning to form. Fern cursed and lashed out, trying to shake the Minions from her body but they were only a distraction. Fern's shield was ripped from her hands and thrown across the room by Keyon who had rushed in while his Minions had attacked.

A blow from his Axe knocked the cleric backwards into the idol which tipped over and toppled over the railing and smashed on the floor, but Fern's mace was still held tightly in her armored hand. The Minions rushed into to attack her while she was on the floor, but each caught a quick jabbing blow to the face or gut from the sanctified mace.

More balls of molten flame were thrown at the cleric, while her shield was gone her armor managed to keep her from feeling the bulk of the flames as she quickly discarded her burning robes revealing the shiny elaborate full pate armor she wore.

Mace met axe as Keyon and Dawnborn exchanged blows but the Overlord didn't seem to be making much headway, his steel axe was dulled being used against the Fallen Knights and their Durium armor so his chances of severing any limb at this point were laughable. Fern was also skilled enough not to open herself up to allow Keyon to strike at her head, his axe may have been dull but a solid blow to her unprotected skull would be surely fatal.

The Minions were holding back, the Reds could not get a clear shot at the enemy and feared hitting their master while the Browns were still recovering from being hit with a blessed mace. Something about that weapon had struck them to their core and while Minions could naturally recover quickly from blows they were having trouble dealing with attacks from that mace.

Keyon growled, despite acting odd for a cleric she was no slouch while wielding her mace. She was keeping him from ending this battle quickly and was trying to hit him in the head. That mace may not kill him but the force behind it could no doubt send him into vulnerable unconsciousness. At last an opening appeared in her swings and Keyon took it, only to discover that it was a feint that allowed Fern to strike at Keyon's hands, forcing him to drop his axe and topple over backwards to the ground. He instantly reached out to reclaim his weapon when Fern Dawnborn stepped on the axe's handle and prepared to finish this fight.

It would have ended there but now that Keyon was down the Reds saw they could attack without fear of hitting their master. Balls of flame pelted the cleric, and the Browns stumbled forward, charging as fast as they could hobble towards Dawnborn throwing their weapons to make up for their lack luster speed.

While these attacks drove the cleric backward, enraged that she was denied putting an end to this fight she instantly swung wide with her mace. All of the incoming Browns where knocked backward, either knocked out cold or dead from the power contained in Fern's mace.

The female cleric stomped back to Keyon with her mace at the ready once more. "Now we finish this."

In his desperation Keyon grabbed his axe off the floor and swung. With all her mace's weight behind her, about to bring it down on her enemy's helmet Fern had no way to counter or defend herself. The back of the axe's handle caught Dawnborn's ankle, knocking her off balance as she fell head first onto the hard stone floor.

Keyon stood with his axe at the ready, ready to retaliate if the cleric snapped to her feet. However all that Fern Dawnborn did was faintly groan and bleed from the cut on her forehead that the impact with the floor had given her. Keyon walked over to the cleric and kicked her mace away, so she couldn't attack him if she suddenly woke up. Picking the cleric up by the throat, he strode towards the massive fire in the large brazier to get a better look at her as to see if the blow was fatal. If it wasn't he could remedy that easily.

"Congratulations Sire," Came Gnarl's voice. "Now that you've knocked her unconscious you have a number of ways to finish her off. Or if you feel like humiliating her further you could bring the cleric and her... ahem, assets back to the Tower to be your second slave."

The thought of having this wench toiling at the Minion dung pile for the rest of her life caused Keyon to hesitate for a second. Keyon took moment to lift the cleric up by her neck to look her over, despite being a little older than he was she was indeed quite beautiful. His admiration changed to arsonistic curiosity as he dropped her into the large brazier to be consumed by the magical fire that she herself had created for her impartial god.

Looking back at the idol that now laid smashed open on the floor he saw a pile of gold that was spilled out of the statue's headless shoulders, clearly the trap was there to guard against thieves while it hid the stolen gold. Keyon knew he was going to need a lot of help getting all that gold back to the Tower. He left the burning remains of Fern Dawnborn to burn in the magical fire devoted to her god.

Gnarl raised his staff and threw his head back in triumphant laughter as he watched his young master rise from the watery Tower Gate alive and well and with Minion after behind him carrying with it as much gold as it could carry.

Keyon was feeling quite satisfactory with what had transpired in Angelis Keep. He may have lost some Minions but they were replaceable with a life force harvesting trip to the catacombs beyond the spawning pit. The variety of beetles would give him all the different kinds of life force to create a diverse new fighting force.

"Welcome back Sire, I hope you weren't injured too badly." Gnarl said, pointing at the bloody mess on Keyon's armor.

"I am bruised but am not injured enough to me from killing another self proclaimed hero." Keyon said as he pulled his helmet off, glad to feel cool air on his face again. He could feel the power of the Tower Heart already beginning to heal his bruises caused by Fern's mace, another benefit of being the Overlord. A pity though that it did not extend beyond the Dark Tower's confines.

Ziva couldn't believe this guy, he had just slaughtered a priestess and a bunch of children and he still wanted more blood. She wanted to leave this horrible place, she wanted to sleep in a bed, she wanted clothes that weren't rags, and most importantly she wanted food!

The young overlord gave a content sigh, he had dealt enough death and destruction for one day. He would rest for tonight and in the morning he would head out for Evernight forest to attempt to regain support from the elves. They still owed his father for saving their race from extinction, hopefully he could fool them into thinking he was his father just like he did those peasants in Heaven's Peak.

It was only then that Keyon's eyes fell on Ziva and her barely covered chest. Keyon quickly turned away a little embarrassed about seeing her like that but instead of showing this embarrassment he turned to Gnarl with a red face showing the withered Minion master a scowl.

"Care to explain why she's dressed like that?" Keyon demanded trying with all his might to keep his tone as cross as possible.

"It is the same as what all of the Tower's previous slaves wore." Gnarl said, not understanding why this boy would want pass up the chance to ogle a lovely young woman like Ziva. Gnarl certainly didn't.

"You, girl... Ziva was it?" Keyon waited for the girl to hesitantly nod before grabbing her wrist in his armored hand and pulled her towards the "Follow me to the private quarters."

Ziva nearly lost her balance from the strength this young man possessed, there was no question that if he wanted to he could easily rip her arm off. What was he going to do once he got her up there? Sacrifice her? Throw her from the window to the jagged rocks below? Rape her? The farm girl was more terrified now than when she first woke up here in this horrible tower.

He lead the girl up the stairs and down a long hallway, along the way Ziva noticed the ragged curtains that were hung by the tall windows. Clearly this place was hit just as hard as the throne room from the attack of those attacking 'heroes'. Keyon released her arm upon coming to a fork in the hallway and motioned for her to follow as he turned to walk to the right of the perpendicular hallway. Ziva was more scared than curious and began to slink back to the stairs. But if she went down there Gnarl and the rest of the Minions would be waiting for her. If she fled she would no doubt anger her 'master' and he would no doubt put her to death for denying him. Resigning herself for her eventual ravaging, she timidly followed Keyon.

What she saw was exactly the opposite of what expected to happen. Keyon met her at the door of the private quarters with a green sundress and a pair of sturdy women's shoes. She didn't know what to say, she gladly took the clothes and went behind the dressing curtain and changed out of her revealing slave rags. The dress fit her surprisingly well, and the shoes were well broken in and quite comfortable. Coming out she was surprised to see that Keyon was actually removing the heavy bits of armor to reveal that he wore torn black trousers and a linen shirt with rags wrapped around his arms and legs to keep his clothes tight to his body so they wouldn't hinder getting the armor on and off. Out of the armor he was only a few inches taller than she was and had to be close to her age. She cursed how handsome he was... it actually made her want to hide back behind the curtain.

Ziva took a breath to steady herself and came out she half expected to see him standing there to eyeball her in the dress but he was just sitting in a chair looking very tired.

Timidly, Ziva walked over and stood in front of him. "Why... did you give me this dress? I thought I was here to be your slave?"

"Servant." Keyon corrected. "You can have that dress, I want my servants to look nice. I'll only have you wear the rags if you do something that warrants punishment... and I promise you I have no intentions of forcing myself on you."

Ziva wasn't sure if she could take his word for it but it did ease her nerves. "Uh... thank you."

To be continued.

First off, sorry for the delays. I've had a lot to do helping my father prepare for major back surgery, and going through a nasty case of the flu... that and FF6 eating at my soul. I'll try to hurry the next chapters along, but no promises.

spedclass - You'll have to wait until I announce who it is. I assure you, Keyon would never have the cleric, Fern Dawnborn as a mistress. Can't really since she became toast in this chapter.

Black - Sorry, Fern's dead. That's that. But as to your OC, I'd have to see him/her first before I make any decisions. (If you have a account, I'd prefer that you'd use it. that way I can reply to your reviews)

anon - Ziva will be Keyon's first option, I freely admit this. The second option will appear soon.

FTKnight - Well the Fallen Knights were only hinted to being under the Silent Order's thumb. Either as mercenaries or a warrior sect of the Silent Order. They didn't go into it very much. These new Fallen Knights are more just bullies who will serve whoever the Silent Order serves.

Warrior of Virtue - Thanks. Please continue to review and enjoy. Hopefully in that order. XP.

Tabansi232 - There you have it, hope you liked it!

Amorphusshadow - Thanks a lot. I've always strived for something new on this site. not just the same dreg over and over by fangirls. Personally wanna see someone make a crossover fic of Overlord and Zelda. With Link becoming Overlord and has to conquer all of Hyrule. Throwing that idea out there.


	9. Elves are strange folk

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 9

The sun was nearly at its noon position as Keyon strode down the stairway carrying his helmet under one arm and clad in his steel armor once more ready to do battle with another hero. His breakfast had consisted toast, fruit, and bacon supplied by the people of Heaven's Peak who were so overjoyed at the return of their children and the freedom to drink and mingle at the newly reopened Halfway to Heaven inn. Keyon was simply glad to have a full stomach and all of his gold once more glittering from the confines of his treasury. He could finally have some new furniture and decorations brought in to replace what was destroyed and stolen.

Ziva had been up for some time, Gnarl had prodded her out of her sleep to bring up the tray that held her master's breakfast and was given explicit instructions not to wake Keyon if he was not already awake. If she disturbed the young Overlord she would not receive any food for the rest of the day. Having gone without anything for an entire day before she was quick to obey or else she'd have to work with a empty stomach. She was now standing next to Gnarl in the throne room waiting for Keyon to arrive.

As Keyon entered the throne room Gnarl greeted the young Overlord. "Good morning Sire. I hope you slept well after such a delightful slaughter."

Keyon ignored his Minion master's greeting, instead he looked around to view the patchings that his Minions had done in the walls and ceiling. "I see that the Minions are finished with their repairs."

"Yes Sire," Gnarl rasped, looking around at the patchwork jobs the Minions had done. "They finished their work late last night and will soon begin to reinforce the walls before making them more esthetically pleasing."

"Excellent." Keyon turned to look at Ziva who avoided meeting his gaze, obviously still unhappy with her new employment in the Dark Tower. Keyon looked down at Gnarl with a neutral expression on his face. "Allow the girl a day of rest to become more familiar with the tower and as reward for doing such a good job at cleaning my throne room."

Ziva's surprise faded into relief as she hung her head and released a heavy sigh. Her arms were still sore from all that scrubbing, the chance to let her aching muscles recover was a blessing. "Thanks... master."

Keyon didn't need any exceptional senses or magic to detect the venom in Ziva's tone as she called him master. Still there was much to do before the day was over and he had heroes to slay before they became aware of his presence. Keyon walked to the dark pool that was connected to every active Tower Gate in the land and turned to face his Minion master.

"Gnarl, I'd like you to send a Green to Spree to spy on our Bard friend. But before you do, make sure that Green is thoroughly bathed. I don't want his stench giving him away. I want to know what he's up to." Keyon did not wait for a reply to his command, he descended the few steps and disappeared into the Tower Gate.

"Well I'm glad that's over." Ziva relaxed as Keyon left, brushing off her new sundress. She was glad that the dress wasn't near as revealing as the rags she had to wear at the beginning of her servitude. "I'll see you later Gnarl."

Gnarl grinned an evil grin as he causally replied; "Yes it would be a good idea for you to get to work."

Ziva whirled around on one foot to face the wrinkled little Minion, completely aghast that Gnarl was going to make her work after all the cleaning she did last night. What was his deal? "Work? But he just said I had the day off!"

Gnarl was enjoying this. It had been so long since he had the chance to really have some fun with the servants like this. "He also said to wash the stink out of a Green. Do you think that he meant that I should do it?"

Ziva faltered, not knowing how to react to that. "Well no but-"

"No buts." Gnarl snapped his claws and a Green instantly ran up to the old grey Minion, but before he spoke he produced a brush from within his robes. "Go get this woman a washtub and prepare of a scrubbin'! Now young lady get to it!"

Ziva took the brush and stomped off, once she got that Green Minion clean she'd take the entire day off no matter what Gnarl said. She took care of that nasty Jester before, and Gnarl didn't look all that tough either. No doubt if she wanted to she didn't have to be pushed around, it was Keyon she had to worry about if he came back and saw her beating the little monster. She'd have to wait and focus on getting this nasty smelling Minion clean. She did regret having to get her wonderfully made sundress dirty.

--

Keyon strode through the brush of Evernight forest with a well balanced horde of Minions right behind him. Keyon had not been in the forest of Evernight since he was quite young but the many dirt paths provided him with some direction.

The Elves had worked hard in the years since Oberon Greenhaze inadvertently turned the forest into a wonderful place where monsters sprang from the Elf hero's troubled sleep. Between Oberon's nightmares and their forced servitude to the Dwarves their race was almost wiped from face of the earth. While Keyon didn't really care if they had been destroyed or not, they had been his father's greatest supporters since his father slew the Wizard and cemented his position as Overlord and for that alone was worth keeping them around. If they continued to remain loyal and Keyon then he would hold them in higher regard than any of his human subjects, if they began to rebel Keyon would have to subjugate them.

Keyon's Minions didn't like all the foliage, they remembered all the monstrous frogs that could swallow a Minion whole and Wisps which couldn't be harmed by blades or any sort of physical attack. Only the Blues could harm them and only three of them traveled with them now, not enough to make the others feel safe in this magical land.

Keyon and his horde continued on the winding dirt path until they reached the wide opening where once stood the tree that connected Oberon to the land and gave birth to the corruption that nearly swallowed the entirety of Evernight. In this clearing were now many small but well constructed huts made of living plants and stone. Small they were perhaps but they were each large enough to easily house a family of three and not be too restrictive. The Elves were going about their business, many seemingly unchanged from their time under the thumb of the Dwarves thanks to their amazingly long lives but were now Elven children playing among the brush, a product of the Elven women Keyon's father had spared. Given the choice between gold and the exploitation of a long lived race he chose to become a savior to the Elves so that he could get monthly tithes from them. It took many years but Keyon's father was able excavate the ruins of Goldo Golderson's fortress and acquire all the lost gold so there was no lost for the former Overlord. Now all that gold was sitting in Keyon's treasure vault, and he couldn't be happier about it, but now was time for business. Not to dwell on happy thoughts of gold.

Keyon leered down at his Minions, silently telling them to be on their best behavior here. He needed the cooperation of the Elves if he was going to find this rogue Elf that was with among the heroes who had ruined his life. With proud steps he stepped into the Elven village, his very presence enough to cause the children to stop their games and run to cover to peek out at the tall man in scary armor. The farther he walked into the village the more and more people stopped to stare at Keyon and his Minions. Keyon could feel their eyes upon him, but he continued to carry himself with as much prestige as he could until he came to the exact center of the little village and stopped. He didn't have to wait long as the Elves came out of their homes to get a closer look at their savior, or at least the man who looked like the man who had saved them.

Keyon turned to the nearest Elf, he knew he wouldn't have to be as rough as he had to be towards the peasants in Heaven's Peak because the peasants were more likely to just run away at his approach. Keyon motioned for the Elf to come closer which he slowly did.

"Can I help you?" The Elf asked slowly, not knowing how to behave around the supposedly dead savior of the Elves.

"I desire the head of the rogue Druid, Evan Tangle." Keyon's words were as clear as they were harsh. "No one attacks my tower and lives for very long. I require the knowledge of the Elves to locate this treacherous dog."

Another Elf came closer to Keyon, "Evan Tangle is a denouncer of yours mighty one... He claims that you are an evil that will one day do things far worse than what the hated dwarves did to our race. He has been using strange spells lately..."

"Strange spells you say?" Keyon mused, stepping closer to the Elf. "So you have seen him then?"

"N-no my lord! The village elder spoke with the spirits of the fallen to watch Evan Tangle. He would know all that you want to know my lord!"

"Take me to this elder of yours." Keyon glared straight at this Elf, absently shifting which hand held his axe.

The Elf's interest in the overlord had been almost solely on the deadly weapon that Keyon held in his armored hands. If the Minions had been doing more than watching their master and laugh at how scared the Elves were of their master then they would have been more feared. It was only his appearance and the darkness that surrounded him that made the Elves give the overlord such a wide berth. In truth they saw him as a friend, but one that was to be kept at a distance. The overlord did after all slaughter nearly every Dwarf in the Golden Hills just to kill the Dwarven king, Goldo Golderson.

The Elf lead Keyon and his Minions to an unremarkable hut on the outskirts of the settlement. Keyon was curious that the head of this community would live on the fringes of the village rather than live in the center where any could seek his council. The young overlord decided that it did not deserve further speculation, the Elves had their own way of doing things, if the old man planned on living out where the creatures of the night could drag him off it was his decision. Keyon remembered the words of his mother; 'The Elves are strange.'

Keyon turned to his Minions and told them to stand guard at the entrance of the hut while he talked to the elder. The Minions obeyed his command and stood at the doorway while he went inside. It was a clean hut, if a little too green and leafy for the overlord's tastes. Standing in the middle of the room was the oldest Elf in the village. He appeared to be only in the beginning of his aged years, as all of the older Elves had passed on during the raids on Evernight and the others had died under the harsh treatment of the Dwarves. He still looked young by human standards but he was actually well beyond any age that any living human could claim, some wrinkles adorned his ageless face and his wheat gold hair was beginning to silver. His clothes were fashioned to resemble the same type worn by the Elven ghosts. Perhaps it was his way of saying if his time came he was ready to go.

The aging Elf motioned to the elegantly designed chair at the equally exquisite which Keyon gladly sat upon and was a little surprised that it could support the weight of both him and his heavy steel armor. The elder took an identical chair and sat comfortably in front of the overlord with a curious but not overly positive expression.

"I hear you seek Evaneskel Tangle," The elder said, using the Druid's full Elven name. "I know that he wronged you but is that enough reason to kill him?"

Keyon's glowing blue eyes narrowed and burned red, his response voiced his subdued indignation. "He attacked my Tower with a gaggle of other heroes. If Dwarves were to raid your forest or temple again would you not cry out for vengeance?"

The elder showed no outward expression of agitation which only served to further irritate the overlord. "Perhaps, but before we talk of such things perhaps we should drop these façade. It is obvious to me that you are not the same man that freed us from bondage and who we owe our lives to."

Keyon decided to play coy, the belief that the overlord had survived the attack was what kept the Elves so loyal. He needed all the help he could get and he did not want to dredge through these woods day after day searching for one Elf. "What makes you say such things?"

"Through my deep meditations and my days spent at the mother goddess temple among my fallen ancestors I have grown the ability to sense the auras of all living things." The Elf explained plainly. "You are similar to the man who released us from bondage but you clearly are not same man."

Keyon chuckled and sat at the Elven Elder's table, they had much to discuss. "True, I am the son of the man who you owe your lives to. I say 'owe' because I too require your assistance in tracking down Evan Tangle, one of the Heroes that slew my father, your liberator."

The Elder's brow tightened at this news, he knew that Keyon wished for Evan's head but he had not known that Evan Tangle the renegade Druid of Evernight had gone so far to betray the Overlord who had taken him from the gold mine where giant slugs nearly devoured Elf and Dwarf alike. The Elder calmed himself and regained his composure, leaning forward with his hands crossed as if he was bargaining over the trade of meat and grain.

"What else did these 'heroes' do to spite you?" The elder asked pointedly.

Keyon frowned under his helmet, he didn't owe this Elf any answers, it was only for the sake of keeping the pointy eared idiots on his side that he answered. "They destroyed my home, murdered my father and mother, and stolen nearly everything from my Tower. I have already taken the life of a disturbed cleric that had taken over Heaven's Peak and reclaimed the gold that rightfully belongs to me. However I have only one hopeless servant to keep my home in order and I know not where this rogue Elf dwells."

"Well, in hopes that you will see that the Elves are still in your father's debt I can help in both respects. Evan Tangle has been sighted skulking around the caves that used to house those dreadful skull creatures. Not far from the Temple to the mother goddess." The elder said to Keyon's delight. "But before you leave I have a gift for you, think of it as a coronation present for the son of the overlord."

The aging Elf rose from his chair and walked quietly to the door, almost tripping over a napping Brown. Keyon had to bite his tongue to keep from breaking into hysterics, he like all young people loved gifts but he was even more so since he rarely received gifts that did not have to do with some sort of lesson or training for becoming the future overlord.

Regardless the Minions let the Elf through and followed as their master walked after the Elven elder. They were led beyond the outskirts of the village to the side of the slow river that wound its way through Evernight. There on the shore gathering water in buckets to take back to the village was a young Elven woman. This Elven woman stood a foot shorter than Keyon, had glittering shoulder length silver hair that was elegantly decorated with pink flowers. Her piercing green eyes seemed to pull at Keyon's very soul as she glanced at the young overlord and walked towards the village elder.

"May I help you father?" She asked politely, bowing slowly to her father and to Keyon.

Her father smiled as he motioned to the young overlord. "Maya, I would like you to go with the overlord to work for him. He will be your master and you will serve him in all respects."

Keyon was on the fence about this, Elves were magical creatures by nature and she could present a danger if she one day she desired to attack him. Despite being allies to the Elves Keyon did not fully trust them, they always seemed so calm and at peace with themselves and everything. It made them seem passionless and without any personality. The fact that the elder would give his own daughter to servitude just perplexed Keyon further.

'Maya' only smiled in response to her father's announcement that she was now Keyon's servant. "It will be an honor to serve the hero of the Elves. I will go willingly with you master and I will do anything to please you. Anything."

That emphasis on 'anything' caused Keyon to recoil in embarrassment, but his helmet's darkness hid his red face well. "Well, er... head to the Tower Gate and Minion Master Gnarl will give you your assignments. I have to hunt down a thieving druid."

"I wish you luck mighty overlord." The elder waved as Keyon and his Minions walked on towards the Cave of skulls were out of sight before turning to his daughter. "You understand your mission and what it means if you succeed?"

"Of course father. I know I won't fail... Good bye father." Maya clasped her father in a tight hug before setting off towards the Overlord's Tower Gate to report for duty.

Keyon grinned as he trekked through the thick foliage of Evernight, mentally and physically prepared for another fight to the death.

--

After spending half an hour minutes of washing that disgusting Green Minion had called it quits. While the Minion had been pretty well behaved due to it's fascination with the soap bubbles, the overall stink seemed to permeate the water and soap and made her feel quite ill. Once the Green's foul odor was dulled Ziva simply left the Minion sitting in the small wash tub to do as he pleased. Her job had been to wash the little booger, not to keep an eye on him.

Ziva had spent rest of her time wandering the Tower's lower and higher floors. She had learned a lot about her new home's different rooms, and during her wanderings of the Spawning pit she was so glad that Keyon hadn't commanded her to clean anything down there. It stank down there. She had seen the Dungeon, and the upper rooms but the one that grabbed her interest was the forge and how armor and weapons were empowered.

Minions are creatures born from different kinds of gathered life force and when the overlord wanted to strengthen his armor or weapons he would throw his Minions in with the molten metal and then forge the metal into the desired shape. Doing so would imbue the metal with properties similar to the Minion's characteristics.

"So does that mean that only metals can be empowered by life force? Would it be possible to infuse power into something like stones or wood?" Ziva asked aloud, examining the three different forges.

Giblet, the forgemaster Minion only shrugged because he had never wondered about such things. He only knew how to work the forges and to hammer red hot metal into arms and armor.

"Well why don't we try? Come on!" Ziva whined, trying to play the sympathy card on the little Brown Minion.

Giblet gulped, he didn't want any part of this. If he started forging things for slaves there would be heck to pay from Gnarl or worse yet the overlord. But thankfully he wouldn't have to, his sensitive ears picked up the magical echo of the Tower gate being activated, someone or something was coming through.

Ziva however had no chance of hearing such a sound, but she could read the expression on Giblet's face. His long ears were raised straight up and he had turned towards the stairway that led back to the throne room.

"What's up Giblet?" Ziva asked.

"Visitor here, but not master..." Giblet said, in a sad pathetic voice that almost made Ziva feel like giving the little critter a hug. Not really but she was close to doing it.

Being the curious girl that she was Ziva climbed the winding stairs to see this 'visitor' for herself. But as she came closer and closer she could hear Gnarl talking to someone.

"Well young lady it is so refreshing to see someone enter the tower and desire to become a servant to the overlord." Gnarl rasped, "There's another servant around the tower however the master has allowed her the day off to learn the layout of the tower. Sadly she's nothing but a lazy layabout. If you see her have her show you about, I will no doubt have more for you to do once the master returns."

Ziva gritted her teeth, her dislike for the old Minion returned like a thunderclap as she overheard Gnarl calling her lazy. But her concentration shifted from punting the old Minion like a child's ball to fascination at this new arrival. Ziva had never before seen an Elf, but it was clear that this young woman was indeed one of the forest dwelling folk.

Maya's reaction to this other girl was not that of curiosity, but of subdued hostility. This young woman was wearing a nice red sundress, no doubt a gift from the overlord. If this whelp was planning on seducing the young master of this tower she had another thing coming.

"Now ladies, I leave you to get acquainted. There are some tasty beetles down in the Spawning pits that are calling to me." With those last words the Minion master licked his lips and proceeded to the descending stairway to hunt down a crunchy snack.

--

To be continued.

--

AN: Well there you have it. Maya is the second mistress choice but don't cast your votes yet. I need more time to develop both her personality and Ziva's before I leave the choice up to you people. So hold your horses. Also, Overlord fans come join us at the Overlord section of the Misc games forums. We need people. One last thing: I'd like to say that I LOVE YOU PEOPE! Last chapter had 10 reviews! A record for one of my chapters!

Warrior of Virtue - Thanks. But I'll try to keep these going none the less.

spedclass - Will do, or I'll try.

blackrogue123 - Yeah. So when you see a cleric... BURN THEM! XD No not really...

anon - go reviewer.

Night's Beloved - Yeah I admit it that I'm not perfect and I make errors, but I do run my chappies through a spell checker and eye it quickly before posting it. Still some errors do come through, but I'm more peeved at misspelling words than grammar errors, they're not important in my eyes. As for the Anti hero thing, that was the major thing people complained about in overlord, that many of your quests had positive outcomes for your peons. But I noted that unlike usual 'choice' games your evil path receives more bonuses than your good one. As reference in black and white (1&2) the good path is almost always rewarded, while evil is almost always the same as failure. Still I'm just glad to get another person favorited this fic. I try my best.

Amorphusshadow - Will do. Also you don't have to give me too much credit, although I feel the greatest honor on this site is inspiring another writer to write. I'd gladly stop by the forum, I have my own forum to do with as I please but the truth is no one stops by or stays long. You won't be seeing the Bard for a while however. -looks at the Misc Games forums- I totally forgot that I made an overlord forum on FF August 07 but no one's shown up, and I just now deleted it.

Tabansi232 - Yeah, he's strong, has magical talent, but his mother pretty much beat the hormones straight out of him. I imagine she had to beat him a lot since there were plenty of scantily clad women around.

Feneris - Glad you liked it, keep reviewing because I need more motivation!

BrazeRancor - First; glad you're reading the reviews, it makes me glad that people aren't just skipping over them. Second; I'm not writing the zelda/overlord fic, Amorphusshadow is doing that and you can help give ideas at the overlord forum in the misc game section of FF's game forums. Give us a visit.

almostinsane - Of course I'll read it. I really wish that Overlord would get it's own section in games. I mean there are sections on FF that have 1 story or less in it while in misc sections there are sometimes 10 or more of another series... FF's admins are strange like that. -shrug-


	10. The many shades of inconvenience

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 10

'This is intolerable.' Thought Maya as Ziva finished giving the Elf the tour of the tower, 'If she has gained a foot hold in the overlord's favor than my mission is in grave jeopardy.'

The entire time Ziva had been leading this Elf around she had been giving her that same haughty smile as if she was being led about by a child. Ziva had been giving this elf all of what she had learned and 'Maya' had done little besides smile and nod. It was gnawing at her, if she had to endure this day after day working with this smug elf Ziva knew that she would go insane or kill her. Preferably the later.

"That's all I know, I've only been here for two days when Keyon burned my house down and slaughtered my family. So is it true that you volunteered to become a slave?"

"The chance to be a servant to the savior of the Elves is an honor." Maya said calmly, smiling politely.

Ziva couldn't believe what she had just heard. This Elf had to be some sort of loon to think that this was a good situation. Still, she wanted to maintain some possibility of making a friend of this Elf, she may be here with her for a long time. "Sure, whatever..."

Maya turned to Ziva and asked; "So... has our glorious master talked about taking a mistress?"

Ziva cocked her head to the side, not understanding exactly what the Elf was talking about. "What?"

Maya's brow wrinkled as she placed a hand to her face to hide the look of frustration that she now wore. Why did she have to deal with this child? "The woman who the overlord will trust with his life and share a portion of his authority over all the lands that will he will bend to his will."

Ziva gritted her teeth, if the Elf was planning something then she would have to keep an eye on her. "No, not that I know of."

Maya sensed that this mortal was telling the truth, but that did not mean that the overlord had not given his favor to this child. "Well I'm sure he will pick the obvious choice. After all you are rather plain compared to me, and as chestless as a ten year old boy."

"I had heard that the Elves were strange but your arrogance is sickening!" Ziva screamed, throwing her hands over her head before walking away from the Elf. The young lady could stand no more of Maya's condescending attitude. If she wanted a competition to see who was the better woman than so be it.

Maya did not verbally respond, she only huffed and turned her nose at Ziva before departing from her company. Ziva didn't complain about her leaving but Maya was quickly formulating a way to win her master's heart so she could boot the little urchin out or have her put to death, either way the mortal would be out of her hair.

Ziva meanwhile was simply trying to control her rage before she got herself into some major trouble with Keyon when he returned. She only hoped that Maya didn't get what she was after, even if it meant having to become the Tower's Mistress herself.

Gnarl sighed, it had been a long time since a mistress had to be chosen and between sisters no less. Now it was a choice between a seemingly subservient Elven woman and a strong willed mortal lass. Gnarl did not pity his master's decision once he returned from Evernight.

--

Keyon and his Minions were now crossing the bridge that lead to Skull Den, the cave where all the demonic and savage creatures whose remains still decorated the interior of the cave. Keyon was pleased that his father had destroyed all the nasty things, but there were bound to be dangerous creatures still lurking the depths of that dark place. Aside from Evan Tangle there was nothing that worried Keyon, while he had recovered his gold from the cleric there were still his missing spells and other tower items to be recovered. Out of the all of them he worried that one of these heroes managed to master his spells he could be in serious danger.

The cave was moist both in its cool humidity and the soft floor, no doubt from the underground river that flowed throughout the land. The Greens in Keyon's company were enjoying the swamp like atmosphere, as were the Blues. The Reds however were uneasy with all the moisture, being connected to the plane of fire they shunned places like this.

Onward and downward Keyon strode with his Minions. Neither of his parents had talked much about this place, other than it was where one of the magical nodes that protected Oberon Greenhaze from harm lay and where the nightmare creatures made their home.

Keyon entered a large open area full of rotting skulls and bones from creatures of varying size and demeanor. The young overlord had little time to examine the skulls as distant rumble like walking thunder was approaching the area where Keyon and his Minions stood. Keyon ordered his small horde to hug the wall while he slunk behind an outcropping in the rock wall. The thunderous footsteps grew closer and closer until the young overlord could feel the earth beneath his feet buckle. Finally Keyon saw what was making those monstrous footfalls, a wild troll. Keyon had seen them before in the arena but this troll's girth and size were incredible! Its slouching head and the hump on its back were nearly scrapping the cavern ceiling, how this thing had gotten into the cave was a mystery.

Thankfully the troll was more interested in sitting down and gnawing on the bones that lay in the center of the room than actually searching for anything more fresh to eat because it didn't even notice Keyon or his Minions hiding along the walls. Keyon hesitated on what to do, trolls were tough but to take down this beast would be quite a task to take on. Trolls had hide as tough as leather and had layers of fat and muscle protecting any vital organs from harm and by the look of this troll Keyon believed that even if he stuck a sword up to the hilt in the beast's belly he would not hit anything of importance. If he wanted to kill the beast he would have to do this as quickly as possible, there was no time to revel in a good long brawl.

Keyon signaled for two of his Browns to charge, not to attack the troll but to run in front of it. The Browns performed their task well, granted they did not understand what their master was thinking. They ran noisily to the other side of the room, in front of the troll and continued on towards the opposite wall. The bloated monster instantly took notice and began stomping after the much faster Minions.

Keyon moved from the wall, afraid that his armor may alert the beast to his presence but he could not worry about that now. He moved back to the entrance of the room and ran up the ledge that over saw the chamber and knelt down. Sweeping the Browns around the room again the Troll continued the chase them, Keyon continued this game until the troll stomped closer. Griping his axe and hoping for the best Keyon leapt from the ledge and swung with all his might. The troll screamed in pain and primal rage as Keyon's axe bit deeply into its skull. Unfortunately it was not a fatal wound, while trolls have little fat or muscle on their heads the skull of a troll is unbelievably strong. Keyon was lucky to have even cracked the monster's skull.

The troll smacked its attacker aside before pulling out the sharp foreign object that was lodged its head and tossing it aside. Keyon landed on the hard stone floor of the cavern, he was alive but in pain. Although he was clad in steel armor there was little padding to absorb both the sloppy blow from the troll and the fall from fifteen feet onto hard rock. Still, Keyon was down but not out. If he wanted to kill this troll he needed to finish the job before the troll attacked him. With a command from his magical gauntlet Keyon summoned his greens to do battle.

The troll had begun to stomp towards the little man that had given it such a tremendous headache when it felt the sensation of something scampering up its back. What the monster couldn't see were the five Green Minions climbing the many folds of back fat until they reached the hump in the monster's back. The metal blades strapped to their little clawed hands were searching for a good place to stab and cut. The second the troll felt one of the Minions poke at it with their metal claws the blue skinned beast began to blindly grab at the creatures on his back, only managing to get one of the little green pests in each hand which the troll brought in front of its face to see what they were before beginning to crush the Minions.

The remaining three Greens began to climb around the troll's massive hunch back and head for the one thing that Keyon had made them attack for: the huge gaping wound in the troll's forehead. The troll had only crushed the two Greens into wisps of green essence before it began to thrash and jump about, trying to get at the remaining things that were now crawling on its face. Another of the Greens was snatched away to be crushed in the monster's huge hands but thankfully for the other Minions who were watching there was little to be sad about. The last two Greens managed to perch themselves on the sides of the wound and began stabbing with all their might. Bits of bloody flesh, bone splinters, and grey matter went flying as the two Minions franticly tried to kill the troll. The beast began to let out a deafening cry but found it could no longer bring any such sound to light, slowly its eyes rolled back into its head and it fell to the ground with a tremendous crash.

Keyon rubbing his aching ribs through his armor as he retrieved his axe. He was proud of his Minions beyond words, still he felt they had deserved some reward. Keyon summoned all his Minions to his side where he signaled for his last two Greens to come forward. The Greens blinked at their master as he leaned down and patted both of them on the head which was greatly reciprocated by the Greens and envied by the other Minions.

Keyon cracked his neck and stretched a little, this was only the beginning of the danger.

--

To be continued.

--

AN: well we broke the old record by one. 12 reviews... I love it. THANK YOU ALL! We aren't at the big choice yet! One more chapter until I lay Ziva and Maya's fate in your hands. Also I'm sorry this one is so short, but I tried to make it as action packed as I could for you. If you like, think of this as a mini boss.

BrazeRancor - Nervous Tyranny? ... I like the sound of it. Where do I sign?

blackrogue123 - Well I assure you what I have planned will surprise you, not only the choice between the girls but the ending of this fic as well.

Silverscale - I want this fic to feel like a direct adaptation to the game, thanks for the suggestions but I feel that getting the mother goddess as a mistress would be impossible since the Elven goddess is supposed to be all powerful and good. Also, the spells are a little overpowered. I mean why create rock golems to do your bidding when you have minions? Also, the overlord's spells are weak compared to those of the wizard. The overlord's true strength is in his minions always remember that. As for the minion ideas, the yellow ones had merit but the purple ones sounded just like the blues and the grays sound ridiculous. Nothing on the main character's side should ever be invincible, it makes for a bad story.

spedclass - Will do man.

Warrior of Virtue - One Druid pancake coming up!

anon - I have some ideas, hope you'll like them.

cj001122 - Wish granted.

Feneris - Correct. If Keyon were pure evil he would be far less interesting. I mean he would have just killed Ziva and all the people in Heaven's Peak... Keyon's not interested in senseless slaughter, he prefers to have people under his thumb so they can make money for him.

Shimmon - Velvet will make later appearances I assure you.

Night's Beloved - Yeah, I'm evil like that. XD

almostinsane - Trust me, you won't expect what I have in mind after people make the inevitable choice.

FTKnight - They always seemed that way to me too. But in my opinion I've always liked the Drow more than any other fantasy race.


	11. End of one battle

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 11

Keyon walked further and further into the depths of the Den of Skulls, he still was feeling an ache in his ribs as he walked but he bit his cheek to keep him from grunting from the pain he felt in his chest. If the Minions were to know that they're master was hurt they would start complaining. Keyon did not think that he had any broken bones but the pain in his chest suggested that he had bruised or damaged his sternum; the long, flat bone in the center of his ribcage. A part of his mind told him to return to the Tower to recuperate but if he left the Druid could slip out of the cave and find a new place to hide. There was no doubt that every living thing in the cave had heard the bellows of that monstrous troll.

Despite the din he had made before with the troll, the cave was oddly quiet and devoid of life. Normally whisps, beetles, and frogs but there was nothing in sight. The Minions were more anxious for battle than curious, they were hoping there wouldn't be anymore trolls like that around here.

As they traveled deeper a single whisp flew from around a corner, headed towards the exit, but thanks to one of his more athletic Blues it was snatched from the air and about to have it's eternal life ended by the Blue's ability to strike magical creatures dead. Keyon however grabbed the whisp away from the Blue and held it close to his face, Keyon's magical gauntlet keeping the small blue fairy from escaping.

"Tell me whisp, what were you fleeing from?" Keyon asked pointedly.

"Do you promise to spare me lord?" The tiny sprite spat in a very demanding tone.

Keyon glanced toward the Blue who he had taken the diminutive fey from, who was staring at the whisp in the same regard a starving child would stare at a shiny red apple. Keyon had to admit it was one of the cutest moments he had ever seen his Minions in.

"If you give me worthwhile information. Bare in mind that I am the one holding your life literally in my hands." Keyon spoke calmly, reveling his superiority over the whisp.

The whisp's shoulders sagged in defeat, she knew that she may die either way but there was an urgency to get this over with as soon as possible. She did not what to be one of his experiments... "Evaneskel Tangle has been doing dread things here in this cavern. I was curious and so I spied on him from the socket of one of the many skulls in this cave. I witnessed him using strange magicks on the frogs and beetles that inhabit this damp place. I saws him turn them into things that look much like the creatures that stand with you."

This disturbed Keyon greatly, if someone else were to discover the ability to Minions, or something akin to Minions, it could seriously jeopardize his position as ruler of the lands. The thought of having to deal with heroes who could use life force was a scary thought. More than ever this druid needed to be slain, and slain quickly before he can muster a strong fighting force.

"I will release you whisp, but you will swear to me one service at the time of my choosing." Keyon's eyes narrowed as he spoke those cold words to the small whisp, he was impressed that what the little pest spoke her response so promptly and defiantly:

"What means do you have that I would keep a promise that was made under duress?"

Keyon grinned, he had hoped that she would say something along those lines.

"There are many ways to destroy a forest, I could burn it down, or chop it down tree by tree," Keyon brought up his axe for better effect, "or, my favorite; I could have those worthless peons in Spree dig so that the river that flows through this forest is diverted towards Heaven's peak or the Ruborian desert instead. I would enjoy watching as everything here begins to dry up and die."

For the first time in her life the mischievous little whisp held a look of pure dread on her usually calm face. "You-you wouldn't dare! You'd destroy the entire forest just because of one fey not swearing you loyalty?"

"In a heart beat." Keyon said harshly, his eyes blazing red once more. "I am not asking for eternal loyalty, I merely demand a penance paid when I choose it."

"Fine. As you wish my lord..." The whisp said in a defeated tone, who was promptly released and fluttered away as fast as she could fly. She wanted to be as far away from those blasted blue Minions and that foul man in the armor.

Keyon admitted that he had come up with the idea for diverting the river on the spot, it would make a good tactic to bleed gold out of the Elves if they should ever come up short with their tithes or start to complain about his own brand of tyranny. Continuing on towards the lower levels Keyon found himself at a crossroads, the cave had split itself into three directions. Down the left Keyon could hear the rushing flow of water, most likely a waterfall but it was much darker than the other two. The path on the right was littered with rotting bones and skulls and resounded with the echo of a few chirping frogs. It led off into a thick outcropping of large stalagmites that stretched upwards to impede one's movement, a good place to be ambushed. The center path was the most suspicious path, Keyon could see the dim flicker of far away torches or some similar form of lighting. (1)

Keyon didn't like this, no matter which way he went he could give this druid the time needed to escape. Keyon turned to his remaining Greens and ordered them to stand guard at the center of the divide in case someone came through. No sooner had the Greens huddled together their natural ability to camouflage themselves began to take effect until they disappeared from view. It is a useful skill but sadly it only works if they remain still for a spell and it does nothing for their smell.

Deciding on the center path because of the light of torches, the young overlord traveled as quietly as his steel armor and small horde of Minions would allow. The path was decorated with the ribcage of some gigantic serpent or dragon, so big in fact that the bones were embedded into the ground like pillars to help support the ceiling.

One of the Browns cried out, pointed at the waters with his axe. Keyon and the other Minions drew their attention to the spot where the Brown was pointing but saw only the dying reverberations on the surface of the water. Keyon shrugged, it probably just a frog after all the Minions had seemingly bottomless stomachs.

Just as Keyon looked away back towards the end of the passageway the Minions, all of them, began to cry out and brandish their weapons. Keyon looked back to the waters to see that fifteen small blue creatures were now staring at him with wooden clubs. They were nearly as tall as the Minions and sported blue rubbery skin, large bulbous eyes, webbed feet, small claws, and a wide mouth filled with tiny teeth.

"I see I've been discovered." Came a voice, belonging to no one else than Evan Tangle who was striding into the passage way from the far end. He was an Elf no doubt with his pale hair and pointed ears, but he was wearing a flowing green robe that was adorned with leaves and wore a wreath of leafy twigs on his head. In his left hand was a unshod staff made from a branch of an ash tree. "I was not expecting to see you again so soon."

"Retribution comes when it is called on." Keyon snarled, tightening his grip on his axe.

One of Keyon's more mouthy Browns shouted; "They ugly!"

Evan couldn't help by smile, he took great pride in his creations. "Perhaps they are, but they are so easy to make when you have the proper tools. I have had such interesting times with the spell totems that I took as spoils from your fell tower."

"So you took frogs and warped them into these inferior creatures. Not something a warrior of nature would do." Keyon said, "Aren't druids supposed to revere nature and protect it?"

"The forest occasionally needs a helping hand when it comes to defending what is hers." Evan said calmly, tapping his staff on the ground. "And when you're gone I'll turn your dark tower into a green tower to help the forest over take Spree and all those petty humans."

This elf was mad, the evil forces that permeate his tower would never bend to his methods. Would they? Keyon honestly didn't know.

"Warriors of nature, attack the infidels!" The druid shouted, slamming his staff into the hard rock floor of the cave.

The frog things dived under the water, but did not remain there for long. The little beasts erupted from the water to attack the Minions from the air. However in a show of what can only be called pure anticlimax the Brown Minions easily slew each of their foes with a single swipe of their weapons.

"Apparently all you are able to make are weak imitations." Keyon said, charging at Evan with full force. "I will show no mercy!"

Fear gripped at Evaneskel's heart as the armored Overlord rushed at him with that axe raised to bring down. It was only due to Evaneskel's Elven agility that allowed him to sidestep the downward swing which dug deeply into the rock.

Evaneskel's fear turned to nervous rage as he shoved a hand into his cloak and pulled a small whistle to his lips. "I made far more then just those! Behold!"

As Keyon struggled to pull his axe as a shrill whistle echoed throughout the cavern. Dozens upon dozens of the frog things rushed in from the path that Keyon had previously taken. Among the frog things were creatures that were obviously once beetles. They were as tall as the Minions, had large segmented eyes, large pinchers in front of a small tooth filled maul, covered in thick brown chitinous exoskeleton. In all there had to be nearly fifty of these creatures, so far Keyon's only advantage was that his Minions were armed with weapons while these twisted creatures had only their bare hands.

Keyon clenched his fist and funneled his rage as best he could, calling on one of his remaining spells; Anger. His Minions felt raw power surging throughout their bodies, causing muscles to expand slightly. With this boost in strength came a slight increase in aggressiveness, they eagerly leapt into battle against the weak mockeries that the druid created.

Fed up with his attempts to retrieve his axe from the rock Keyon resorted to hand to hand fighting against the Elf. His fists were dodged again and again by Evaneskel who laughed at the armored man resorting to such brutish tactics. His arrogance was shattered when Keyon's fist broke the druid's staff in half with a single blow. Thinking the druid weaponless Keyon attempted to attack the Elf with his armored fists. Fate seemed to enjoy proving the young Overlord wrong that day, for the moment Keyon came close enough Evan Tangle pulled a dagger from his cloak and thrust as hard as he could.

Keyon felt cold steel find its way past his armor and into his abdomen, the sensation was... strange. Perhaps it was the shock but he felt no pain, only the flowing heat caused by the blood that seeped from the wound. Around them the Minions battled the twisted creatures created by the druid. Out of the gang of Minions that Keyon brought only the Browns and Greens were left. The Reds were not capable of attacking effectively with their napalm like projectiles as Evan's creatures swarmed the Minions. The Blues did their best to keep the other Minions healthy but the battering from the beetle things quickly brought them down. The Browns were easily taking down any foe that came close enough, but at the rate the Minions were falling in battle from the swarm of pint sized monsters it was not looking good. Even with Anger cast upon them and the amount of these things they were killing they needed more Minions to survive this.

Keyon's mind reeled at the sight of the dagger in his stomach, an anger greater than he had ever known burned his mind and muscles until all that was left was a desire for death. Evan did all that he could to dodge the mad human's sudden attempts to grab at him and counterattack with his dagger but one quick movement of Keyon's hand snapped the Elf's wrist. Evan's subsequent scream of pain was a delight to Keyon. The druid was instantly overpowered by the young overlord and pinned to the ground with Keyon's knees holding Evan's arms out at his sides. The last thing that the druid saw was Keyon's searing red eyes before metal fists began to plow into Evan's face.

With the druid dead Keyon rose, surprisingly with the death of Evaneskel the warped creatures of the forest began to revert to their natural harmless forms. Frogs and small beetles scampered away from the remaining four Browns and the last Green. Keyon's rage subsided and slumped to a knee, the sensation of pain returning to his abdomen.

"Go back there and check for any spell totems, I do not want anything left behind." Keyon rasped, feeling a little blood dribbling from his mouth as he spoke. "Once you're done, return to the Tower..."

The Minions nodded as Keyon poured the remaining amount of mana into his gauntlet, activating a power that was to be used only if a situation was hopeless. Light surrounded the young Overlord as he was transported to the Dark Tower.

--

Keyon erupted from the dark pool of the Tower gate, showering the floor with the black mystic water. Keyon managed to take the three steps out of the waters before slumping to the ground letting out a dull groan of pain. Pulling off his helmet and chest plate Keyon saw that he was covered from the waist down in his own blood and yet the wound in his stomach was closing before his own eyes. Not that he was complaining, he had never known that this could happen without the use of healing potions.

"It looks like you had some trouble with the Elf sire." Gnarl said tiredly, his staff clacking on the stone floor as he walked up to his young master, quickly noting the surprised look on his face. "Something wrong my lord?"

Keyon removed his helmet to revel in the cool dry air of the Dark Tower. "The druid is dead Gnarl, I ordered my Minions to recover anything of value from the area before returning to the Tower."

"I'm afraid that's not how it works young master." Gnarl said, "To return to the Tower without the aid of a gate you must expend the life force of all the Minions you have with you. You arrived safely but there are no more Minions within the forest of Evernight."

Keyon groaned, not from his wound which had already sealed itself shut but the frustration of having to return to that cavern just to gather up his spell totems. "What of our spy?"

"Our bathed Green is doing quite well," Gnarl said. "He hasn't been discovered yet but that Bard has done nothing but drink in the tavern and seduce the waitresses."

Keyon stood, only clad in his gauntlets, greeves, sabaton, and blood covered gousset (2). The chain mail gousset that he had worn across his abdomen was made by Gibblet, he was very displeased to see the whole that had been pierced by the druid's blade. "Gnarl, I want Gibblet to make repairs to this gousset and fashion me a new weapon, after he's flogged for making inferior chain mail."

"At once sire." Gnarl snapped his fingers to summon some Browns to carry the damaged section of armor off to the armory. "Sire, there is a matter here for you to settle..."

Picking up his helmet and the back and chest plates Keyon went to sit down on his throne. With the loss of an entire troupe of well armed Minions, his axe, and if it were not for the magical properties of his tower he would have bled to death by now. "What is the problem Gnarl?"

Gnarl sighed, hobbling over to stand before the young Overlord. "The problem is with your two servants milord."

"What kind of problem?" Keyon spat, not in the mood to play any sort of guessing game.

"I apologies sire, I know you must be weary. I shall elaborate;" Gnarl cleared his throat as he began; "It seems that they've begun to argue over who will acquire the title of Mistress."

"Great... So what do you recommend Gnarl?" Keyon about ready to just have his Minion master take command of the situation.

"You could order them to be silent, of course being competitive women that will not work." Gnarl paused to laugh at his poorly constructed joke. "Ahem, you could have them put to death and harvest their life force, or you could name of them your Mistress."

"If I kill them I'd be out of servants, even killing one of them won't stop the complaining I bet... granted I could use the life force." Keyon pondered this further, why did women have be such a hassle when it came to taking over all lands? "Even throwing one of them out of the Tower wouldn't do much for me. I'd look soft if I let one of my servants go..."

"So what have you decided sir?" Gnarl asked, knowing his place was to suggest solutions and not to step beyond his station.

"The only way I see out of this Gnarl is to name one Tower mistress and either kill the other one or throw her out." Keyon gritted his teeth, he did not want anyone slowing down his quest for blood. "If I don't raise one of them to mistress then they'll just keep arguing until I go mad."

"Alright then." Gnarl smiled, he was going to enjoy watching whoever wasn't going to be picked go into a fit of tears. "Girls do come in, the master wants to have a word with you. I do hope you two haven't ripped each other to bits before he arrived."

Both of the girls walked in, each carrying a very sour look and seemed like they had both come out of a bath as their hair hung from their heads like wet peat moss. Ziva and Maya were surprised to see Keyon sitting on his throne naked from the waist up save for his gauntlets. This was the first time Maya had seen the young Overlord without his helmet and she had to admit the young man was exceptionally handsome. But with time his good looks would wither, she would have to enjoy him while he lasted. Ziva meanwhile was just glad to see him back, maybe with him back the Elf would behave herself.

"Oh master you're covered in blood!" Maya shouted, rushing over to Keyon to throw her arms around the young man's neck to express her concern. "You are not hurt are you?"

Keyon's face flushed red, he wished that Maya had chosen to wear something more appropriate for a lady of her... build. The 'servant' rags that she had changed in to barely covered her chest which had been shoved into his point of view. Much to Ziva's rage, the farm girl could see through Maya's pathetic attempt to seduce Keyon into choosing her.

Gnarl coughed, a little jealous that Keyon was getting such attention from the busty Elf. "Do not be so frightful child. Within the walls of the throne room the Overlord is healed to fighting condition thanks to the Tower Heart's magical energies."

Maya backed off from the young man, allowing him to breathe since she had nearly crushed his face. The slight tinge of red on his face was enough to make her smile victoriously.

Keyon could feel his pulse racing as he tried to maintain control, but being young and full of hormones it was a difficult few minutes before he could regain his normal scowl and a state resembling inner calm.

"If that's the case why didn't the last Overlord just stay in the throne room if it would keep healing him?" Ziva asked pointedly.

"I said it heals you," Gnarl snorted, "the Tower Heart can't do much if you have an arrow through your skull or have your head cut off. The dead are beyond help."

"If that were indeed the case then my father would be alive and well now isn't that right Gnarl?" Keyon's hot glare fell on the Minion master, who had to admit that the one thing that he wished that he had not inherited from his father was the old Overlord's evil eye.

"Well, yes... but on to the matter at hand?" Gnarl said.

Keyon folded his arms and turned his gaze to the girls, much to Gnarl's relief. "Yes, I have heard that you two have been arguing and giving Gnarl quite the headache."

"Well... yeah..." Ziva said, trying to act innocent. She had started her share of the quarreling since she had tripped Maya causing her to fall into the Minion dung pile. Something she was quite proud of. "I'm sorry Gnarl."

"I summoned you here to my throne room so that I might choose one of you as the Tower mistress." Keyon could visibly see both girls snap to attention, the look of self confidence on their faces was enough to tell him that there at had been some fierce competition. He felt a little proud to see that he was such a highly prized commodity. "But I warn you that only one of you can have this title and if I sense any discord out of the one that is not chosen I will have her put to death. Is that understood?"

Both women nodded.

Deep down Ziva didn't like this, here she was vying for the attention of the man who had slaughtered her family. She kept telling herself it was just to out do that blasted Elf but what if she won? What exactly were the mistress's duties? What where the limits of her authority? She didn't know but if Maya got that power Ziva would be living under her boot for the rest of her life.

Maya on the other hand was confident that her victory was assured. Keyon was but a boy and after all the daughter of an Elven elder was superior over a farmer's daughter. After she was selected all she would have to was offer her body to her master and she could get away with much, a human Keyon's age was nothing more than a bundle of manipulative hormones anyway. Once in charge she'd make that little brat Ziva live down in the spawning pit, right next to the dung heap.

Keyon studied both women long and hard before coming to his conclusion. "Alright... I pick-"

--

To be continued.

--

ALRIGHT! TIME TO VOTE WHO YOU WANT! The loyal Ziva or the busty Maya!

(1) I can't quite remember the map of Skull Den exactly, so bare with me.

(2) Greeves are the part of the armor that protect the legs, sabaton the feet, and gousset is the chain mail that protects the areas between the plate armor.

AN: I've just switched my computer from Windows to Linux so I'm still learning my way around it. It's very different but at least I don't have 280 bits of spyware or 20 viruses lurking in my computer anymore. That and I went to a gamer's convention called Origins for 5 days so I hardly did anything for a week.

New record! Fourteen reviews! WOOOT! You people rock!

Amorphusshadow - Eh, while that sounds reasonably cool I won't be using that. For some reason I get a Stubs the Zombie vibe from it.

spedclass - I always try to keep up good work.

blackrogue123 - Yeah it is, but the thing I see is this: It can't be easy to be the overlord. I mean you'd have to be black hearted all the time, and for a character that would be a tad boring and predictable. Besides all his training from Rose, Keyon's still young.

Warrior of Virtue - I am not taking ideas on new Minions. Be they new colors or 'evolved' forms. I don't see how adding colors or evolved forms of Minions as wise choices. It's the same with OCs, you add too many of them or make them too strong your audience will begin to loose interest.

Feneris - Maybe she does. Or maybe she's just power hungry like Velvet was she always seemed to have an ulterior motive.

FTKnight - Glad to see I'm not the only on who appreciates Gnarl's brand of humor.

BrazeRancor - Yeah, this has to be one of my favorite fics I've ever written, mostly because I'm able to write the most visceral, bloody fight scenes I want.

The Celtic Kid - Well thanks a bunch dude, that's high praise indeed. The amount of reviews I get plus the amount of fun I get to have with this fic is what help me make this story as good as it is.

almostinsane - Always great to hear praise from reviewers, to be honest I never used the greens much, I liked a brown/blue mix best. I've seen a few overlord fics here, mostly pathetic crossovers (like the naruto one) but some of the zelda crossovers are pretty good.

Black - Nice to have you back, but I'm not going to be adding new spells. As for your idea about white minions if I were to use them it would make the blues irreverent. Your spell idea just sounds like the Minions gain attributes of other Minions... no thanks. I'm not adding new Minions or new spells.

Neo-Kira - Hmm... I guess while my heroes don't really represent any of the seven deadly sins, they definitely represent one thing I truly despise; Arrogance. Overlord has a forum in the Misc games section, but so few people traffic it. As for your OC idea I'd have to see what you had in mind before I make any decisions. But I do appreciate the plug for my Overlord forum on your profile.


	12. Sorry, Not a real chapter

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Intermission!

Sorry guys, no update yet. Working on chapter 12 right now I swear, but there's a little matter of the voter count, and a word from the cast.

The polls are closed. Final count: Ziva 7 Maya 0

Maya: What the hell people!?

I thought some of you liked me!

Ziva: Looks like you can't just act like a whore and get people on your side.

Maya: Shut up human! At least I have a woman's figure, you're flat!

Ziva: Whatever, MINIONS! Dump her in the pit of slugs!

Maya: NO! NOT THE SLUGS! -is dragged away by Minions-

Keyon: ... seems like no matter who I chose I wound up with the crazy one. Thanks guys... Thanks a lot.

Anyway, Chapter 12 will take some time but I'll be up in a while. I'm sorry I didn't get to explore of Maya's personality before having to kick her to the curb but I didn't think they could share Keyon for even a day.

So sit back and relax, I'm working as hard as I can considering the awesomeness of the watchmen trailer I saw... So awesome...

-Jazzerman notices the Minions have surrounded him-

I'm working! I'm working! -goes back to his computer-

Ziva: -gives the Minions ham- Good boys! :3

Keyon: ... I kinda regret this whole thing...

Ziva: What was that!?

Keyon: Nothing! ... -holds up a 'help me' sign to audience-

To be continued?

--

AN: Might as well answer your reviews while I'm here. Sorry about this little tease, I don't usually do chapters like this but I just wanted to set your minds at ease while I get things set up. I don't want you guys grabbing your torches and pitchforks and start pounding on my door due to my long inbetween update times.

Warrior of Virtue - Update not as soon as hoped. Sorry.

spedclass - Thanks... but you didn't vote.

Amorphusshadow - Upgrading the Minions just like in the game? I'm not sure. But I'll think of something.

anon - Yeah, Rose was Keyon's mother. Thanks for the review though.

Feneris - yeah, I kinda admit I was biased towards her myself.

blackrogue123 - Maya was mostly acting that way so she may have a better chance of achieving power. I mostly threw all that flirting in just to make her seem more enticing than Ziva, which was same case with Velvet flirting with the Overlord on her bed in Heaven's Peak to make herself seem like a better choice than Rose.

FTKnight - Heh guess we have something in common. XP

Neo-Kira - Alrighty. While your OC has definate possibilities, I can't see him working too well in this fic. Keyon's still just an ameteur Overlord despite having just killed two heroes. The idea of giving Keyon a demon eye is also a big no. I don't plan on giving Keyon anything that would help him further that wasn't in the game. Also: Why would Zach be blindly loyal to Keyon?

almostinsane - I know things were stacked in Ziva's favor, I kinda threw Maya together so quickly that I really could't establish her character very well. Glad you like the chapter!

tlg - gotcha.


	13. Begining of another

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

Well, after that little time waster of an intermission, now let's get back to the show!

New generation.

Part 12

--

"... Ziva."

A stunned silence hung in the thrown room, both women standing in disbelief at Keyon's decision. While Ziva was dumbstruck that she had actually beaten Maya, her mind was a whirlwind of questions. What exactly did she have to do now? Could she leave? Could she command the Minions? Would Keyon force her to sleep with him? The idea of having to bed Keyon almost made her wretch.

But while Ziva was lost in her thoughts, Maya was about to explode due to the rage that she barely managed to keep contained. How could the Overlord pick that... that bare chested child over her!? While it was possible that she had come on too strong but the indignity that she had lost to Ziva made the Elf fume. Any Dwarf will tell you that Elves, especially Elven women are at their most dangerous when they are disrespected.

Keyon however was mildly perplexed by the silence, he had been expecting a shower of praise and scorn from the two women and the most they were doing was staring off into space. "... Well?"

Both women snapped back to reality and faced the man that had rendered his judgment. Ziva looked over at Maya for a moment, receiving a poisoned glare for her curiosity before she walked up the dais to stand next to the Overlord which only earned her more animosity from the scorned Elf.

"I hope this settles your little arguments." Keyon said firmly, turning to look Ziva in the eye. "You now have complete authority over her so if she gets out of line you have my leave to deal out any form of punishment you prefer. The Minions will aid you if you order them to."

A trio of Brown Minions cheered for their new mistress from the stairwell that lead to the spawning pits down in the depths of the tower. Ziva had to admit the Minions were no longer as threatening as she thought they were when they attacked her farm. In fact they were kinda cute in a stupid kind of way.

Maya fumed and stomped out of the throne room to resume her cleaning of the armory. Gnarl had told her and Ziva to get it done an hour ago but it looked like she would have to complete this task on her own. At least she would be alone while she worked. But her failure to become the tower mistress hovered over her like a dense fog, she may have been denied her place at Keyon's side but she may have a chance of changing his mind.

Ziva watched as Maya stomped off before turning back to Keyon, who was still looking at her but without the burning glare that she had come to associate with him.

"Um, master," Ziva said timidly, uncertain what the boundaries of her new station were. "What do you want me to do?"

Keyon looked at her with an uncharacteristically perplexed look on his face before chuckling to himself. "There's no need to call me 'master' anymore unless you want to now. Your title as mistress means that you have total authority after me."

Ziva had to sit down on the stone dais to get this straight, she now had total power when Keyon was out hunting down those people that had her father had given food and lodging to weeks ago. She didn't have to take anymore of Maya's lip and she could have the Minions do her chores...

"On top of that you can even help decorate the tower as you wish." Keyon calmly explained, "Simply have the Minions pick out what you want and I'll approve it so you can use my funds to buy what you need."

Ziva's fists clenched as she stood and shot one of her own glares at the young Overlord. "No."

Keyon was a little shocked by her reaction, he had not expected her to suddenly yell at him. "Huh?"

"I'm not going to go from slave to personal maid. This whole mistress position is a huge joke." Ziva pouted, turning away from her captor. "Can I just leave this horrible place?"

Ziva nearly leapt out of her skin as Keyon spun her around and placed his unarmored hand on her shoulders. Any moment Ziva expected him to snap her neck like a twig, but instead she felt him pull her into a brief and gentle hug. After releasing her he sat back down on his throne.

"I know you don't trust me, but there are things I must do if I am to maintain my position as Overlord. There are things expected of me." Keyon said. "Sometimes I feel I am now trapped in the role in some over grandiose play. But I cannot revive your parents but that is no way treat me since I saved your life."

"Saved my life!?" Ziva shrieked, her face twisted with rage. "You burn my home, kill my family, put me under the care of that toad Gnarl, and make me work day in and day out and you have the gall to say you saved my life!?"

"I didn't have to spare you you know." Keyon said, hostility returning to his face and voice. "I could have put your family's heads on pikes in the middle of Spree's town square as a message that the Overlord was still alive and would show no mercy."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better!?" Ziva smacked him and ran up the stairs to the private quarters. Leaving a bewildered young Overlord in his throne room.

"That... could have gone better master." Gnarl said, who had remained silent and inconspicuous as possible. He remembered what Mistress Rose was like when she would have her violent spells.

"Yeah... but I guess I should be glad that they weren't trying to kill each other." Keyon could only blame himself for this. His mother had never taught him much about relationships, and his father was always too busy to say anything on the matter with him. "But I think they may just be miffed at me, Maya is angry that I chose Ziva over here and now Ziva ran off..."

Gnarl scratched the tip of his chin with his claw, but after much consideration he was unable to think of a solution to his master's predicament. "It cannot be helped now my lord. There is still the matter of the monk hiding in the Ruborian Desert, The bard in Spree, and that necromancer."

The necromancer worried Keyon, they had a habit of creating armies of undead. While the undead were generally feeble and clumsy, they could be quite dangerous if their numbers exceeded that of a small town. "Do we know where the necromancer calls home?"

Gnarl shook his head. "Our spy has returned, but he has learned very little besides that the bard cheats at poker."

"Does the Bard know of his comrade's defeats and subsequent deaths?" Keyon asked.

Gnarl shook his wrinkled gray head. "No my lord, no one in Spree knows of the events that transpired in Heaven's Peak and Evernight."

"I supposed that is something to be grateful for." Keyon snorted, "I shall retire to my quarters, have the Minions draw me a bath while I remove my armor... and I still want Gibblet flogged."

Gnarl nodded, grateful to be of help and to cause some major pain in the same order. "Of course sire. Enjoy yourself."

Keyon walked up the stairwell to the room that he called his own and closed the doors behind him. Quickly shedding his armor and redressing himself in a red robe that he fastened with a red sash before heading towards his father's private bath. He remembered his mother saying that the bath was a present for her upon his conception and that it was very helpful during her pregnancy. Keyon remembered he enjoyed his bathes in the massive stone basin that could fit five fully grown men. The water was already drawn and after closing the door he disrobed and got in the water. He forced himself to relax as he waited for Gibblet to finish repairing his armor and listened hard for the sounds of his punishment to begin.

--

Ziva was feeling very despondent, she felt all the suppressed anger towards Keyon resurfacing and it tore at her to see the images of her family and home once more come to light. The idea of being Keyon's lackey was not a pleasant one, even if she no longer had to take abuse from that whore of an Elf.

But now she wandered the colosseum like dungeon, which thankfully had not been activated. If it had she would have been attacked by a whole number of nasty creatures. The walk she was taking was helping to ease her nerves but only by a slim margin.

"Ah Mistress, there you are." Croaked Gnarl as he hobbled up from behind her. "You left in such a hurry, I'm sure you have questions."

Ziva did not want to speak to this creature, not here and not now. "Just leave me alone..."

"You know my dear, you do have the power to leave this place if you truly want to." Gnarl mused, fanging a grin on his wide mouth.

The young lady's head snapped around to lock her eyes on the wrinkled Minion. "Do you mean it?"

"Oh indeed. But by leaving that would leave that Maya woman to take your place. I'm sure she would have our master hunt you down. It's too bad you don't want to help change your young Overlord from a blood thirsty man to a softer kinder man." Gnarl nearly choked on those last few words. But if it meant keeping peace in the tower and this female creature from making that disgusting sobbing noise he'd say it at least a few more times.

Ziva had not considered that an option. While Keyon had long been an image of revulsion in her mind's eye he wasn't repulsive to her so long as he was not wearing that fearsome armor. Yet he was still as cold and inconsiderate as he had been when he slew her family. It was unlikely that Maya would attempt to curb his vicious streak...

With a sigh, she said; "Tell me what I must do Gnarl..."

--

To be continued.

--

AN: Why the hell are hyphens disappearing when I upload my fics now? Seriously, soon we won't be able to have quotations for some reason.

Anon - Not a problem.

Feneris - This takes place eighteen years after Raising Hell so don't worry, things will turn towards them. But remember Raising Hell mostly took place in the abyss, not the overworld.

blackrogue123 - Don't worry, either way Keyon would up with someone who'd control his life. XD

Amorphusshadow - The tower itself? Haven't thought about it really. But Velvet? People have asked that before and the answer is yes, Auntie Velvet will make an appearance.

Warrior of Virtue - I actually don't plan on her ever leaving the Tower.

almostinsane - I think this chapter speaks for itself.

etc - Obviously you've never had a girlfriend because a woman can't share anything with another woman, especially a man. It's why I find harem fics to be the most unrealistic crap I've ever read.

FTKnight - Himself? You guys voted her in. But either way he'd suffer.


	14. Worms and raiders

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 13

--

The sands of the Ruborian Desert shifted as the winds blew, creating small cyclones of sand and wind from the dunes and rocks that littered the landscape. The hot sun beat down on all who lived here, making life harsh and the people just as brutal. But from where Keyon stood now all that mattered was finding the Monk's monastery, and by finding that he would find Clara Ironfist.

The heat would have had any other man in armor wishing for death, but as Keyon discovered that the magic that helped to forge his armor kept him from roasting like a chicken in his steel armor. Keyon had not come here straight from his tower though, he had to make a quick stop at the Skull Den to retrieve his spell totems.

"Master," Gnarl said, communicating from his favorite sitting spot next to the Tower gate. "are you sure it was a good idea to leave me here with Mistress Ziva in this state?"

Keyon admitted that it wasn't the wisest decision he had ever made but he had business here in the desert and business always came before pleasure. If one could call dealing with a woman who hated you pleasure, perhaps he could find something to give to the hysterical woman to improve her attitude. Regardless Keyon summoned his Minions, mostly Browns with Greens, Reds, and Blues to supplement his main fighting force.

As he left the oasis that the tower gate had transported him to Keyon knew that he had no solid information on where the monk's monastery was. Still, he could always go to the raider outpost not far from here and force a little information out of those shadow warriors. (1)

Crossing the rocky terrain Keyon approached the ocean of sand that lead to the raider's outpost, but before he could plant one armored boot on the shifting sands Gnarl's voice rang through Keyon's mind.

"Wait master, I remember this place quite well... do not stop moving once you get on the sands. Giant worms live within the loose sand and feast on anything that comes near them." Gnarl rasped, hoping that that blast female Ziva wasn't doing something foolish, "I suggest that you hurry and try to keep off the sand."

"Great..." Keyon snorted, placing his boot back on the rock just in time as a pillar of armored worm shot into the air and causing the young Overlord and his Minions to beat a hasty retreat that would have certainly earned him a harsh scolding from his mother if she still lived.

The beast writhed back and forth as it slobbered and gnashed its enormous teeth in irritation perhaps at missing its target. The stench was nearly unbearable as the monster thrashed its massive form about where Keyon and his Minions had previously been standing. If such a creature could be controlled it's master could easily conquer all the lands, but Keyon knew better. If he were to attempt to control these monsters and fail, they would spread throughout the lands and devour everyone of his followers. A very costly misfortune, as an Overlord with no one to rule over is a lord of nothing.

The worm, finding nothing in its blind thrashing but sand and stone, finally gave up and retreated beneath the sands. But Keyon knew better than to assume that the beast had gone off to look for something to eat elsewhere. Odds are it was waiting just below ready to eat the first thing that set foot on the loose sand.

Keyon looked out into the sand, there were small islands of rock creating a path to a thin strip of rock where the outpost was housed. It was little more than a few houses, a small heard of sheep, and a few of their less talented warriors. The difficult part would be not killing them all. Keyon's new axe was made of Durium and was quite thirsty for the necks of its master's enemies.

The way to cross this patch of sand came at at once to the young Overlord, selecting one of his less equiped Browns Keyon ordered it to charge at a sheep that stood on the far side side of the strip. Quite a ways from where Keyon intended on heading. As soon as the Minion set foot on the sand the beast took chase, the dust trail as the worm moved bear the surface gave Keyon the signal to move. While Keyon and his horde moved from rock to rock until they reached safety, the Brown did not have it so lucky. The worm reveled in its feast until the Minion died, falling apart into whisps of yellowish brown energy.

Keyon leaned on his axe as he tried to regain his breath, suddenly very glad that he did not pick to have his armor replaced with a newly crafted, yet much heavier Durium armor. His horde was still eager to proceed despite the loss of one of their own, not that they really cared. Straightening himself up he headed towards the raider outpost.

--

Ziva was still distraught after the incident in the throne room, although she had been granted a powerful position in the Tower but she wanted little to do with Keyon. But if she did nothing to help improve Keyon's disposition then he may kill many more people. She had been forced into the role of the supporting friend to that maniac and she was not happy about it.

The private quarters were relatively quiet, few Minions came to this floor except to bring their master's meals to him. A few Minions skittered here and there, still trying to pick up all the tiny fragments from every window that had been shattered when the attack on the Tower occurred.

Casually, Ziva peeked into Keyon's room. She felt no shame for doing so, after all the door was left wide open so that anyone could enter if they so desired. Seeing that no one was inside she walked into the room and found it to be not what she expected. With all the repairs that the Minions had wrought, this room had yet to see any cleaning of any sort. The bed was still just a mattress, and there was a slight breeze coming from the broken windows. She didn't understand why Keyon hadn't had this room cleaned first...

Leaving her master's chamber she saw something, that something was a mountain of gold and jewels! Before Ziva knew it she had wandered down into the treasure trove and was now running her fingers through the multitude of gold coins. Having lived in poverty all her life she had often imagined what a mound of gold would look, it was truly a sight to behold for the farm girl. There was probably enough to found a small kingdom with this horde... The idea of using it to put herself in a position of royalty began to creep into Ziva's mind.

But if she did would she be any different than Keyon? After all, this gold came from plundering innocents. Reluctantly leaving the gold behind Ziva went back to her room, she had a lot on her mind.

--

Below in the Spawning Pit Maya was toiling as she had been ordered by the new tower mistress. The pain of her defeat by that chestless farm girl was taking its toll on the Elf's mind. With every scrub of her brush on the floor Maya thought of another terrible punishment to enact on that wretched girl. While she wanted her to die, that wouldn't be enough to satisfy Maya. She wanted much much more.

Keyon was also on Maya's revenge list, he had to be utterly convoluted to pick Ziva over Maya. It was the only logical conclusion to her. This menial labor was beneath her, that human should be down licking her boots not lording her authority over her.

In an attempt to calm her nerves, Maya took a deep breath and instantly regretted it. The smell effectively knocked her on her back, leaving the elf calm but also with a serious headache and nearly without her lunch. Maya needed to rest before getting back to her work... she was feeling a little dizzy right now...

--

As far as Keyon could tell the outpost was guarded by only three of the raiders, but he had to guess that there would be more out of sight behind the small adobe shelter. The trio of raiders were now hunched over a fire, most likely cooking some sort of small desert game. Keyon could see no one on top of the sand blasted structure nor around the surrounding rock. While his Minions were ready to kill for their master, he needed one of them alive. He would have to recall his Minions at the last second to ensure that the last of them was wounded but not dead.

The raider's first realization that something was wrong was the loud, uncoordinated stampede of many creatures coming towards them. It was not the sound of their brown sheep stampeded, they could tell the difference between a sheep's cloven hoof and... whatever that was. They turned to see a large man with a cadre of small creatures running towards them. Drawing their swords they prepared for combat.

The first Minion was impaled on the curved katana, but the following three were not deterred as they smashed the closest raider's knees with well placed smacks from their maces, a Green's claws collided with his forehead as soon as he fell to the ground. The second threw a hidden knife at the armored figure, however its effect was minor as it was deflect by a quick movement of his axe. While unharmed, it did cause the armored man to stop advancing and strafe back in forth as if to make himself a more difficult target. This was unnecessary as three of the red creatures caused the second raider's tight black clothing to catch fire. In his panic to put out the flames he stumbled over the rock face and fell into the waiting maw of a sand worm which did not mind a well cooked meal.

The third raider threw down his sword and fell to his knees in surrender. Raising his hand and activating the magical gem in his gauntlet to summon the Minions back to his side Keyon strode over to the last raider with his axe ready, just in case this raider had something else in mind.

The sound of a Red Minion gasping and falling over dead from a dagger being lodged in his head sent the rest of the horde into defense mode as Keyon quickly scanned the area for the origin of the weapon. The answer was found when Keyon saw a hidden fourth member of the raiders that had been camped out on top of the adobe house. If it could be called that.

Normally Keyon would have sent his Minions up the stairs to deal with the ambusher, but this needed to be done quickly. Focusing his rage into his hands Keyon conjured enough will power to send a fireball flying from his armored hands into the raider whose clothes ignited instantly. Screaming in terror he too panicked until he fell off the rock and onto the loose sand to meet his end by means of a hungry worm.

The Red was in little danger, the dagger had already been pulled out and was now in the hands of a Blue who was now busy using his powers to heal it's fallen comrade.

Keyon kicked the last raider's sword away before putting his boot to the side of the desert dweller's head. The next that the raider knew a large axe was pointing at his head and a heavy armored foot was on his chest.

"Tell me thief, where is the monastery of Clara Ironfist?"

--

To be continued.

--

(1) You know come to think of it it didn't make a lot of sense to have the desert raiders dress and act like ninjas. I mean they'd not only stick out like sore thumbs in the desert but those black suits would be murder in that heat.

AN: I just heard that a spin off called 'dark legend' is coming out for the wii. Staring a new young Overlord. Sadly it doesn't sound like they took any pointers from me. Not that I expected them to. That I don't have a Wii.

And we've reached over five thousand hits! Thanks to all! :D

almostinsane - Reason? You guys picked her. Ain't that enough? XD

Feneris - Well you're half right.

Warrior of Virtue - I'll try, and congrats on being my 100th reviewer!

BrazeRancor - No, but there are plenty of other things that authors do that ruin their stories. As for me, I make it a rule never to resort to such tactics. I have standards.

spedclass - Will do.

anon - Yeap.

FTKnight - Ah. But Ziva's beginning to get the idea that if she doesn't do anything Keyon will kill other people.

blackrogue123 - If Maya had been chosen she would have begun to develop real feelings for Keyon and wouldn't have been such a bitch. While Ziva would have gone completely insane and wanted vengeance.

Narrator 45 - I could tell you but that would spoil it. But yeah, I admit I've done good work so far with New Gen. I can't understand why. I have yet to play Raising hell but I know what happens in it. Trust me, there will be some real twists. I just wish Raising hell would come to the freaking PC.

Make-War-Not-Love - Sorry for the wait, but reviews always help to motivate me.


	15. Trek through the desert

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 14

--

Keyon left the raider dangling over the sand pit from a feeble limb of a cactus, if he wanted to stay alive he would have to remain still and quiet as the needles poked their way through his skin. While any other person would say the raider had done little of merit to deserve such a horrible fate, his fourth ally's sneak attack had done enough for Keyon to retaliate such. After all the young Overlord had gotten the information he needed, so the raider was no longer needed.

He now knew that the monetary was hidden towards the east in the other direction of the raider's home base. Keyon had no previous knowledge of this area, but he was hoping that there would the terrain would be much more rocky than the land the raiders claimed as their own. His Minions were tired and the heat was especially hard on the Blues, who were not used to such head but even though they had begun to whine they plodded on behind their master.

The land was largely much like that of the land the raiders called home, lots of rocky outcroppings standing in a sea of sand. Keyon clenched his fists, the odds those worms weren't in this patch of land was as unlikely as a Red being able to swim with two rocks in his hands.

But while the land was largely unchanged, the rocks were mostly tall and interconnected, giving Keyon and his horde a winding but safe past the worm infested sands. But the cautious Overlord was a living Overlord, or so Rose had taught him. The rocky terrain was the perfect place for an ambush, the rocks could conceal small raider camps until he was nearly on top of them.

Carefully, Keyon made his way along the winding path, avoiding the sand at all costs and having to put up with the continuous whining from the blue minions he came to the end of the path. Standing before Keyon was a crumbling, weather worn excuse for a tower on a lone rock in the middle of a lake of sand. The only way to cross would have to be on foot.

Picking up a rock and throwing it into the sand, Keyon had hoped to see no movement within the ground. He was sorely disappointed when five of the monstrous creatures erupted from the sand and thrashed about searching blindly for prey that had never existed.

Keyon began to run through different situations, gauging his odds of making it across the shifting sands. The idea of sending five minions to their doom was not a wise idea, while the creatures were indeed expendable it was never a wise idea to dispense with a sixth of your fighting force before heading into a possibly perilous fight. Besides if the battle was long and his minions were nearly all destroyed he would have to sacrifice them to return home. Worse yet without the minions he would be stranded on that rock surrounded by those beasts and there would be no rescue party especially from either of the girls.

--

Ziva now sat by the Tower gate, watching as Keyon paced in thought near the edge of the sand pit, no doubt trying to find an easy way across the sand. The newly appointed mistress had been watching, and to see those worms even in the glowing pool was enough to make her skin crawl.

"Disgusting creatures..." She muttered, hoping that she would never have to go to that horrid place. Ziva remembered how she used to be teased for not liking caterpillars when she was a child and the sight of those nasty worms made her feel all icky inside. "What would I give for Keyon to have a giant boot and step on those things."

"An interesting idea, sadly our young master has no such equipment." Gnarl said, once more appearing from behind the young girl. "But there are other ways to smash a bug. Though I must admit I wonder what those overgrown earthworms taste like."

Ziva didn't even want to imagine what Gnarl was talking about as she tried to keep her focus on the pool. "Is there anyway to help him out?"

"I thought you despised him with ever fiber of your being." Gnarl teased, amused at his own antics.

"I have my reasons for wanting to help him Gnarl." Ziva spat as she crossed her arms. "Now tell me what he does have at his disposal."

--

Keyon had sat on a rock and was going through what he had passed on the way to this spot that might be of any use in this situation. Sadly aside from rock, sand, and bleached animal bones there was nothing that could keep those worms occupied for even a few seconds. From where he sat he could see no sign of an arcane tower gate so he couldnt send all his minions in a mad dash to activate it and bypass the monsters by teleporting... There had to be a way to get in, after all that monk could go in and out on her own accord.

"Master, your mistress has come up with an idea." Gnarl's raspy voice suddenly rang in Keyon's head, startling him enough that he nearly fell over backward off his rock.

"Well? What is it?" Keyon growled, still irritated at the sudden ringing in his head. One of these days he will come back and strangle that old toad for giving him no warning before communicating telepathically.

"Sheesh, does he have to be such a grumpy ass?" Ziva's disembodied voice grumbled.

Gnarl laughed. "Um, dear he can hear everything we're talking about. I'd be careful what you say."

There was a short pause followed by a nervous cough before Ziva began. "Gnarl's told me what magicks you possess and I think I may have an idea. You now have a spell called submission, could you use that to cause those monsters to go away?"

Far away Gnarl rubbed his chin as he pondered if that would work or not. "Hmmm... a crude plan but it would work. But you will have to get all of the monsters out of the sand to be effected by your spell."

"Not a problem, I just hope it works." Keyon said, picking up a large rock and heaving it into the sand.

The rock was large and heavy enough to send a loud and clear signal to all five of the worms exploded from the sand to search blindly for what had made such a loud 'thud.' The young overlord took a quick breath to steady his mind as he reached out mentally, drawing on a primal force beyond understanding and beyond reasoning. This resulted in the sightless worms to sense a powerful force among them, one that filled their feral brains with an alien sense of fear and awe and forced them into submission.

Keyon hurried across the sands with his minions, keeping this aura of power about him was taxing and was already reaching his limits. He could already feel his dominating power dissipating as the worms were now slowly following him but keeping their distance. The minions were now at the other side, but Keyon was still plodding ten yards away from the shore when he could feel himself slipping until it finally gave out. The worms waited a few seconds before giving chase, unsure where that frightening force had gone but now they could feel sensation of food moving on the sand.

With one final leap Keyon crashed onto the rock surface, his minions scrambling to help him to his feet so to get their master far away from the horrid 'wiggly things' that they couldn't kill. Keyon pushed past his minions and did not stop until he was nearly inside the tower before looking back to the moat of sand. One of the worms had risen and was now devouring a red that had been in the back of the line but thankfully Keyon and his horde had gotten across to the tower, mostly.

Now it was just a matter of finding that blasted Monk, Clara Ironfist.

--

To be continued.

--

AN: Okay, I want to know who thought it would be a good idea to make it so that hyphens (the ones I use that break up the scenes, not the ones I use in words) are deleted. First I have to give up less and more symbols a few years ago as well as most of the other stuff on my keyboard that isn't a letter. Honestly... It's starting to tick me off that I have to reenter my hyphens each time I upload a chapter or when I save my changes only two out of the normal four are left...

BrazeRancor - Black armor? Keyon doesn't wear black armor. In the game Steel armor is more of a goldish color.

Feneris - Mostly wonder around and think of ways to spend his money. XP

Warrior of Virtue - Let's make it 200th!

anon - It's not that Ziva's flat, it's more as that's the main insult that Maya throws at her.

almostinsane - If you want I'll point that out when Keyon gets back from his fight with Clara. Just for you.

Neo-Kira - Overlord 2 got the green light? YAY! Or is this just Dark Legend? Hope it isn't. Oh well. I won't be adding any OC I deem to be harmful to the storyline I set. There will be no rivals, no new minions, or spells. I will not bring harm down to the story I set but I will read all requests for OCs.

Narrator 45 - I agree utterly. Those worms were the most irritating things in the game to fight (except maybe Khan), the only thing I could say is at least there weren't more of them to kill to get the tower items. Overlord's come a long way from getting a sixes and fives from reviewers.

blackrogue123 - I apply the rules set forth in the 'Tremors' movies to the worms. Like how they can only move through soft soil and not through rock, only the worms don't turn into dangerous creatures like the Graboids do. The structure is the one you see after you first start to chase Jewel, across the small islands to the thin area where the raiders have those brown sheep. As for your regret at not picking Maya, Ziva would have gone from interesting to just an 'I hate you now' character.

FTKnight - That's the plan. Ziva has to either help the man who killed her family become a better person or avoid him and let him be as violent as he is. Pretty simple idea becomes a big problem.


	16. Blood in the sand

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 15

---

Ziva had her hand over her chest, watching Keyon flee as those overgrown earthworms ripped through the sandy made her tense enough to stand. As Keyon dove onto the rock and later scrambled away upward to safety she felt herself sigh in relief. A sneeze from Gnarl drew her attention back to reality, she also allowed her to notice the old minion was staring at her butt. A swift right cross solved that little problem.

"Well... is there anything else that we can do for him?" She asked politely, ignoring the painful grumblings of the minion next to her.

Gnarl hissed and spat, becoming a little worried when he noticed a large tooth sitting on the floor. It would take days for the minion master to grow another tooth, and there were so many nice crunchy bugs he'd have to gum until then...

"Well, you could make yourself useful and head to mistress Rose's old room." Gnarl said, "Some of her old memoirs may have survived and may help you ease into your new role."

Ziva rubbed her aching fist and went off to search the private quarters for the old mistress's memoirs. Unaware that all this time that Maya had been watching them from the stair well leading to the spawning pit.

---

Entering the stone tower Keyon found that it was as decrepit on the inside as it was on the outside. The walls were cracked and parts of both walls and ceiling had fallen to the sand covered floor. Keyon disliked the idea of facing off against any foe in such a damaged structure, the tower itself looked like it was about to collapse any day now. Why would a monk choose to take up practice of the marital arts here?

Cautiously Keyon moved further into the tower, the first thing that he checked was the floor beneath his feet to ensure that he was not walking on just sand. Thankfully the sand was only a thin covering, there was no way those worms could dig through rock... hopefully.

"I suppose those weakling raiders wanted you to retrieve the children I have in my care?" Echoed a shrill female voice, Clara Ironfist leapt onto a large piece of fallen debris to observe her opponent, The dark skinned Ruborian was wearing simple clothing, her breeches were tied at her ankles so they wouldn't flutter and create drag, she wore cloth wraps across her chest and her black hair in a tight knot.

"The Necromancer knows how you helped the weaklings of Heaven's Peak and the elves, they couldn't solve their own problems so they convinced you to fight on their behalf." Clara snorted, crossing her muscular arms. "Now you fight for the raiders?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Keyon spoke the truth, he didn't understand what this frigid woman was getting at.

"I know the raiders had a scout party camped not far from here, they must have told you about my-"

"I killed those raiders and left their one survivor dangling over the sands. I have no doubt that he now rests in the belly of a sand worm." Keyon said coolly, "I came to kill you, not to rescue any brats, and if you truly know everything that has transpired around me you should know that I have slain two of your allies. The cleric and the druid now reside in the infernal abyss."

Clara gritted her teeth and leapt off her perch, flipping gracefully in the air before coming down on both feet with fists up ready for battle.

The overlord couldn't help but think the monk was touched in the head, fighting a horde of armed minions and albeit magically drained overlord barehanded was not a sound idea. Monks like Clara always used their fists and disdained the use of any weapons, this would be a short exercise.

With a slight motion of his hand Keyon ordered his minions to charge, which they all were too happy to comply with. Carla stood her ground, a smug smile on her tanned face but before Keyon could interpret what this expression could mean an explosion rocked the crumbling tower, knocking loose a small amount of debris from the surrounding walls. As the sand and dust settled Keyon saw that a third of his fighting force had been blown to tiny bits while the blues were running about between the others hurriedly healing the survivors.

As the rumblings of the tower faded into silence Keyon found himself shaken to his core, how was he supposed to fight an opponent who had booby trapped the entire fighting area? He had no doubt that Clara had done this to ensure that she had need she could bring the whole tower down on top of him if she began to loose or he tried to run... he would have to deliver a death blow or distract her long enough to get out of this deathtrap.

"I have bombs like that one scattered all around the floor of this tower." The monk laughed heartily, enjoying this little turn in the game she had set in motion. "Now the question is can you still continue to fight knowing you may be destroyed with every step you take?"

Keyon answered in the only way could answer, by concentrating and pooling the last of his magical might into a ball of fire which he hurled at the monk. While she dodged it with ease it was something of a morale boost to the young overlord. But after that brief second of satisfaction had passed Keyon wished that he hadn't done that, he could have used that power in this fight and he had played right into Clara's toying. The heavy Durium axe he had brought would be useless against the monk, as quick as she was he'd only be able to hit her with it if his minions were to grab her and hold her still.

But there was one spot in the tower where Keyon knew that there were no explosives, the blackened area where many of his minions had set off Clara's trap. If there were indeed explosives nearby then they should have been set off as well or otherwise destroyed.

"I fear nothing, but you obviously fear much, setting traps for me and keeping your distance. You obviously do not desire to actually fight, how pathetic." Keyon laughed, hoping to antagonize Clara into falling for his ploy. "Is your cowardice the reason I see no others of your order here? Are they fearful old men who hide their faces and set traps like common thieves?"

Clara responded by throwing a few of the scattered bricks at the overlord, if they were newly made then perhaps they would have hurt but they crumbled upon impact and merely covered Keyon's armor with a fine powder. Keyon grinned under the darkness of his helmet, he had seemed to have to struck a nerve.

The monk wordlessly jumped the seemingly impossible distance between them to engage in hand to hand combat. Keyon raised his axe for as swift a strike as possible but Clara managed to put her boot to the handle during Keyon's back swing and knocked it clean from his hands and onto the sandy floor.

Clara grinned, without his weapon the young man in the armor was defenseless. With the reflexes of a wild cat she began slamming her impossibly hard fists into Keyon's chest, while Keyon could feel each tremendous impact what scared him was that the plates that made up his armor were beginning to twist and buckle.

Thankfully for Keyon the minions had not been stationary, the remaining greens had used their natural sneakiness to stalk their way around the monk and had leaped onto her back and struck with their claws. Clara was forced to break of her attack to deal with the four greens and despite being stabbed in the back with metal blades she easily reached around and pulled each of the greens off and threw them to the ground to deliver swift and powerful punches that destroyed the greens utterly.

Meanwhile Keyon had eased himself back to his feet, he could see his axe laying in the sand far away from where he was standing. Keyon ground his teeth, it would be suicide to try to retrieve it now because of the mines in the floor. A pity, it had only had a single taste of blood. Still Keyon had to admit he was shocked at the monk's horrific strength and how easily she could slam those small fists into his steel plated armor and seemingly have done no damage to her hands at all. With all his magical strength gone and now weaponless he would have to rely on his minions.

Upon taking a few steps a sudden pain caused Keyon to halt in his tracks, his chest felt like just contracted and he found it hard to breathe. Coughing a little bit and trying to still his breathing Keyon never saw that Clara had gotten all of the greens off of her and easily got the weakened overlord into a head lock and removed his helmet. Tossing the heavy steel helmet aside the monk delivered three devastating punches to Keyon's face then let him drop.

Between each blow Keyon's world convulsed and blurred, only to be sharpened for an instant when the next blow struck. He shook his head to clear his vision and to try to free his ears from that blasted ringing but quickly found that his jaw was pressing to the side in an awkward angle. Shock set in seeing that his jaw had been dislocated, but Keyon felt no pain, only surprise at his injuries. Placing a hand on his jaw, he confirmed that what he was seeing was real, he tried to push it back into place but stopped when he felt that it would not move, but now he could taste a copperish flavor in his mouth as he noticed the blood that was leaking steadily from his crooked jaw. Growing up Keyon had heard that being kicked by a horse could kill a man, in those moments after Clara's blows he felt he had experienced a close equivalent.

All this time Clara had backed off to catch her breath and to inspect the wounds the greens had given her. They were deep but the bleeding was not as bad as it appeared to be, leading Clara to think that she could continue this fight.

Shock turning to blind rage, Keyon commanded all his minions to rush the monk which they gladly obeyed. The remaining browns, reds, and blues charged Clara as she kicked and punched them as they came. her attention was so focused on the minions she never realized that this was a front for Keyon to charge and tackle the monk to the ground. While his minions moaned in pain Keyon repeatedly smashed his armored fists into Clara's face, paying her back three times for each time she had punched him.

Once Keyon was satisfied he stood and gave her a sharp kick in the ribs before walking over to check on his minions. No sooner had he witnessed his minions getting to their feet he heard a soft chuckle from behind him.

"I... may be beaten..." Clara rasped, coughing up dark blood as she amazingly managed to get to one knee. "I have this place rigged, if I die then the bombs go off. Here's your choice: If you kill me you won't have time to rescue those brats under our feet, if you want them to live then I get away... I don't believe you have it in you to let children die..."

Clara seemed convinced that Keyon would not let those children die, to Keyon this made him think she believed that he was some hero like she claimed to be. The arrogance that this woman put out seemed to light some sort of fire in the young man, he was in pain but he had one or two attacks left in him. Despite being injured, tired, and wearing heavy armor Keyon dashed over to the monk and gripped her by the throat and heaved with all his might. Clara tried to recover her balance in mid air so she would land on her feet but landed on her side and she skidded across the floor and into one of her own traps. Among the other systematic explosions there was one that seemed to ring louder in Keyon's ears, one that boomed to tell him that Clara Ironfist was dead. That and the shower of blood and various body parts was equally satisfying.

"The tower is collapsing sire! You'd best get out of there!" Gnarl's grizzled voice boomed.

Keyon would have pointed out that Gnarl's impeccable ability to notice the obvious but that would have taken his mind off of running for his life towards the exit. While his muscles ached and he wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest he pushed with what was left of his will to force his way outside where he collapsed and began to bleed face first into the sand.

Minutes passed as Keyon felt nothing but the sting of his tired muscles and the pain of breathing with a few cracked ribs. Keyon slowly rolled onto his side, cursing as the pain intensified as he moved even the slightest. He was certain that he'd never be able to walk the whole distance to the tower gate, if the worms didn't eat him the raiders certainly would. With no minions to power his return to the tower he was doomed to die on this sand worn rock.

The sound of rubble shifting and moving, in the back of Keyon's agony drenched mind he remembered the worms and how they erupted from the sand and began to imagine this was how it would end. His fears dissolved when he saw that it was just a brown minion, limping and apparently in great pain but yet it somehow was still was trying to return to its master's side.

While Keyon felt a small amount of pride seeing just how loyal this little creature was, he was relieved that it would enable him to escape. Calling on what little of strength that had returned to him Keyon willed the Minion into pure power, distilled life force. Keyon regretted that he had to destroy such a resilient minion but he had to survive.

Using the power he had culled from his one minion he used the same magic that he had used to go from the Den of skulls to the dark tower. As Keyon felt himself shift between the boundaries of reality he hoped that the tower's inherit magic could repair the injuries done to his jaw.

---

To be continued.

---

Keyon's current corruption level: 15 percent. (12 for letting the children die)

AN: Well I got a xbox 360 but I've yet to get raising hell. I'm just glad that overlord 2 has gotten the green light.

Feneris - Yeah, it was short, and yes I know how to kill those worms. I've gotten 100 percent of the items in the game. I just thought that it'd be nice to show there should be another way to get past them.

Amorphusshadow - Short means quicker update, besides most of this would have been Keyon walking through sand and rock.

anon - Heh.

BrazeRancor - If you wanted to be the overlord it'd be your call. And thanks on commenting, I love writing cruel death scenes. :D

Narrator 45 - Hope you liked it, even though Keyon didn't quite get out unharmed.

Warrior of Virtue - See my response to Feneris and FTKnight.

almostinsane - thanks, and yeah, Ziva's starting to warm up to her new position.

SPark681 - Thanks, nice to see new reviewers.

FTKnight - I found that to be very tedious in the game, I felt that would be a little more exciting.

dragonmaster77 - Thanks, but I don't know about using your OC, I already have a plan on what's going to happen and the addition to any new OCs would prolong the story and I kinda want to get this over with.


	17. Time to recover

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation.

Part 16

---

Red and black energies swirled as Keyon managed to crawl his way out of the portal's waters. He was battered and bruised but he could feel the magicks of the tower already at work as his broken ribs popped and snapped as they began to knit together in place. Worse yet was the sickening crack as his jaw suddenly snapped back into place. While this recovered was miraculous it was not without its costs, every second of this process caused Keyon to scream in agony as his bones moved back into their proper place. The pain was a clear reminder not to be so careless next time. Finally when it was all over Keyon was even more exhausted than before, his whole body felt sore and was on the verge of loosing consciousness.

"Congratulations on making it back to the tower sire, I didn't think you'd make out of there in time." Gnarl said as he moved forward and began to check on his young master's condition.

Ziva stood aghast at the sight of Keyon's broken jaw moving on its own, and nearly lost her lunch over the sounds of bones reworking themselves. The young lady quickly hussled over to the railing and hung her head in the fresh air to settle her stomach and mind... that was until she saw just how far up she was.

Gnarl looked over at Ziva who was now quite ill, "Well at least she had the courtesy to do that where we don't have to clean."

With a click of his claws the minion master called forth a small group of minions who had been lounging around the throne room since their recent formation in the minion hives.

"Get over here you lazy lumps of puss!" Gnarl shouted, tapping his staff loudly against the floor. "Get the master to his room so he can rest."

Keyon winced as he felt a dozen of the impish creatures lift him off the steps and carry him off towards the stairwell that led upwards to the private quarters.

Once Ziva's stomach began to settle she walked back to where the minion master was standing. "Is he going to be okay?"

Gnarl gave the young mistress an unconcerned shrug. "The master's father sustained worse injuries in his evil campaign. The tower's magic heals the overlord upon entering the throne room but the process is rather rough. He will be on his feet in a day or so."

Ziva nodded quietly, reflecting both on the battle that she had just watched with Gnarl and what had transpired at her farm. Looking back Keyon had easily slew her home and family but now he was going through with fights that were beyond him. Although Gnarl seemed nonchalant about the well being of Keyon during the fight with Clara Ironfist she came to realize that Keyon had only won by pure luck. While she now held a position to become partial ruler of this land she knew that would only come to pass if Keyon survived, there was no way she could rule with an iron fist or go into battle... and despite what had happened to her this tower was the closest thing she had to a home now.

Gnarl reached into his robes and pulled out a small wooden box. "Take this when you go to see the master."

Ziva took the box from Gnarl's long clawed fingers and opened it, finding it to be full of medicinal herbs and gauze. The farm girl had learned some of the healing ways from her grandmother but how did Gnarl know? She would have to ask later as Gnarl descended into the Spawning pit to find some crunchy beetles to eat.

After climbing the stone stairs of the stairwell Ziva cautiously entered the private quarters where Keyon had been taken, while the minions had straightened up in this room since she had been there, the bed was still in poor condition as ever. Keyon himself was resting on his bed, his battered armor had been removed and throw about the room by careless minions who merely wanted to get their master comfortable. The young overlord was in a tattered red robe, a war trophy from his father's beginnings, one of the few clothes that remained that would fit the young man.

Moving to the side of the bed Ziva knelt down next to Keyon and felt his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

Keyon gritted his teeth, he didn't like being under anyone's care. But at least he wasn't under the care of that insufferable elf. "Terrible, but I will have to endure it."

"I'm... glad." Ziva said halfheartedly.

"Thanks..." Keyon said suddenly, "I know you don't want to be here."

The young overlord surprised Ziva, why was he talking like this now after all that had happened between them. Although a little angered that he should be acting considerate now she took a clean enough looking rag and wetted it from a bucket that sat next to the bed before dampening his forehead.

"Laying here, I've had time to think..." Keyon said tiredly, not fully directed at Ziva. "I can't believe my father had the energy to put down so many heroes in his life... I've only killed three and I feel utterly drained."

"Maybe you have to grow into the job." Ziva said, sitting down on the bed next to her so called master. "But I don't understand how you can rule with an iron fist. I... was raised to behave around others with humility and generosity."

Keyon winced as he eased himself up to sit leaning against the back of his bed. "My childhood wasn't the terrible time you believe it was, I was not raised to believe that hate and murder was the only means to survive in life if that's what you think. My mother showed me all the love a mother could, even if she was a little rough at times."

Ziva looked at Keyon, although the old robe was sashed and pulled to conceal his waist and below she could clearly see the large dark bruises that remained from Keyon's last battle. Opening the box Gnarl had given her she began to practice the craft that her mother had taught her. Wetting and placing the healing herbs over the larger bruises and wrapping them with long strips of cloth. With these Keyon already seemed to be feeling better, or perhaps it was simply having someone to talk to.

"What did you want to be when you were grown?" Keyon asked suddenly.

Caught off guard, Ziva answered; "I... I don't know..."

"You must have had some dreams or aspirations." Keyon said pointedly, "You seem to be well trained with those herbs, did you wish to be a healer?"

Ziva smiled a genuine smile and shook her head, "No, my mother taught me because her mother taught her how to heal, but beyond that I had no true desire to work with the maimed and the ill. In all honesty my lord I had taken little account in what I wanted to do with my life."

Keyon frowned, "And now I've forced you into a position you disagree with. For that I apologize."

Ziva turned from her work so fast she thought her eyes may fly from her skull. "You apologize? You have the gall to say those words now?" Realizing she had said that out loud Ziva clasped her hand over her mouth and hung her head before saying; "I'm sorry my lord."

"It's understandable. I don't expect you to find favor with me." Keyon said, leaning back against the backboard of his bed. "Although I am glad I chose you over the elf."

Ziva turned back towards the overlord, "Why did you pick me over her?"

"She seemed a little too eager to serve." Keyon said plainly. "You had seniority here in the tower, and if this will not go beyond this room I found Maya to behave too much like a harlot for my tastes. You have leagues more sense than she."

Ziva smiled, "Thank you my lord."

Silence hung in the air for a short time, before Ziva asked, "What will become of me once this is over? Will I be disposed of for some fairer maiden?"

Keyon shook his head. "I may be the overlord and a worker of the forces of evil but I am not heartless. I'd like you to stand by me, so long as you desire."

Ziva raised an eyebrow, not sure if she should ask what was on her mind but now seemed like the time to ask. "And if I should want to leave?"

"I will let you go," Keyon said, "It is the least I can do for you after what has transpired between us."

Ziva sighed and looked at her feet, the green sun dress she wore was wrinkled slightly and was unlike anything she had in her old wardrobe but she had become quite fond of it. The modest room she was given down the hallway was larger than her old room and there was also the perk of having the minions to do all the house work for her.

"If you had offered me that a week ago I would have gladly accepted." Ziva said, "But my time here has allowed me to think... I have no where else to go. As loathe as I am to admit, I could well be sold into servitude to the Halfway to Heaven Inn or worse."

Ziva felt Keyon's strong hand take hers, lifting her head she saw him smiling at her. This wasn't a malicious grin or a smile born from the glee of revenge, this was a smile of joy.

"I'm glad I have someone I can trust." Keyon said kindly.

Ziva blushed a little and smiled back. But instead of furthering the conversation she helped Keyon lay back down on the bed. "Get some rest. Hopefully you'll be back to normal in the morning."

Keyon shrugged and tried to get some sleep. There was still the bard and that necromancer to deal with.

---

To be continued.

---

AN: Short, but sweet. No action but I hope I can be forgiven for that. This was written pretty fast so I hope it doesn't have a lot of mistakes.

Narrator 45 - Yeah, blood everywhere should be a form of decor. It's a good thing.

spedclass - I hope it was fast enough for you.

BrazeRancor - I wish, but why can't you kill kids in most games today?

almostinsane - Do you think you could make a reasonable decision when your jaw is dislocated, your new weapon is out of range, fighting a very infuriating woman who killed your family and wrecked your home? I don't think so.

anon - I feel the same way. When you're in Keyon's position, unless you crush and demoralize your enemies utterly they'll just come back or breed more opposition.

Warrior of Virtue - Your response in your review tells me I did well.

4/5 - They aren't necessary when you use a tower gate. But when you go back to your tower without using a gate all your minions die. I wanted to give a reason for that. Either Keyon uses the arcane power of the tower gates or the lifeforce of his minions.

Neo-Kira - There's a few more chapters left. There's still Maya's plan and the battle with the bard and the final fight to go.


	18. Ready to head back out there

﻿Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation

Part 17

---

Keyon awoke the next morning feeling a little stiff but no worse. The herbs and wrappings that Ziva had used the day before had worked wonders, his bruises were nearly gone and his muscles were fine. His chest and jaw still ached from his battle with Clara Ironfist but that was a small price to pay for victory.

Keyon tied the old robe from the Order of the Red Dawn around him and whistled for his minions to come to him. Three browns promptly arrived ready to serve, he quickly ordered them to bring him bring him something, anything that remained from the kitchen and to have it ready before he arrived at the armory, it was time to see if Giblet had learned anything from his last attempt at forging armor for him.

Keyon disliked walking around the tower without his armor, he felt much less imposing without the protective suit and a reliable weapon in his hands. With that manic elf lurking around he did not want to be caught being lured into a compromising situation that could anger his new mistress. He had felt he had grown closer to the farm girl, and he did not want to have to allow her to leave the tower so soon after making his promise to release her if she so desired.

The trip Keyon made down from his private chambers to the armory was a hastened one, he wished to avoid all interaction until he was certain a new set of armor was either in construction or finished. In the armory Keyon discovered to his relief that Giblet had spent the night crafting a new set of durium armor complete with helmet, and was preparing to craft a weapon.

"Make my weapon a sword this time Giblet. This armor is much heavier than my steel armor, I will need any swiftness I can get." Keyon said as he lifted his old steel chest plate and was stunned at the size of the dents that Clara Ironfist had made, with her bare hands no less. Had he been wearing the leather armor he had worn when he scouted the town of Spree so long ago he would not have survived against the monk.

Upon examining the gousset Keyon was pleased to see no visible imperfections in the protective durium mesh that would be covering him on his trip to Spree. Keyon hurriedly pulled the cleaned rags that had been pulled off of him by his minions to ascertain the extent of his injuries. Thankfully they had been stitched back together by the minions, and while the stitching was not the most graceful or orderly it would do. The leather pads and the gousset came next, then finally the durium armor and helmet. It took time to dress himself in the heavy armor, but it seemed manageable once he had it properly fastened and in place. The helmet also weighed more but it was not as big an adjustment as the rest of the armor.

"How are you doing on this wonderful morning my lord?" Came a sickly sweet voice.

Keyon looked behind him to see the elven form of Maya walking towards him, a pleasant smile on her face. She looked utterly haggard, her hair was in tangles and she was covered in filth. Keyon felt a little sorry for her but it was not fully his fault, if she had shown some restraint he perhaps would have made her his mistress and not Ziva. He was sure his mistress had her reasons for working the elf this way, so long as she was not tortured or abused too harshly he would not interfere with Ziva's treatment of her.

"The day has barely begun Maya, I trust you to do your best for mistress Ziva while I prepare for another outing." Keyon said as he shifted his attention to Giblet who was now hammering on the hot billets *LOOK UP HOW TO SPELL THIS* of durium to shape them into a sword.

"I do the best I can for you my lord." Maya said, "Although, I hope you forgive me while I ask why I was not chosen..."

Keyon frowned, if an excuse is what Maya wanted then he would give her one. "Ziva has seniority, and she has proven to be someone I can trust with my life. She could have easily taken my life last night while I was recovering and she did not. I have nothing more to say, I must prepare myself and see what I can see through my tower gate."

It was then that one of the red minions arrived holding a freshly roasted turkey leg and a pear. The young overlord was displeased by the meager selection but he would have to make do. He took the turkey leg and fruit and took a bite of each before brushing past the elf, leaving the armory in silence save for the pounding of Giblet's forging hammer falls. Maya how ever was fuming, unsatisfied with the results of her master's explanation. It didn't matter, once Keyon left she would begin her mission and soon none of this would matter. If Keyon had chosen her over that farm wench then this would not have to be.

---

Keyon returned to his throne room, his turkey leg and pear both finished by the time he reached the top. Tossing both to a nearby green who gobbled down core and bone without a care Keyon approached the tower gate and as per usual Gnarl was there scrying through the waters to observe the area surrounding Spree. Keyon noticed that that old minion would pause occasionally and lick his claws, apparently the old minion had only recently come back from his breakfast of beetles. Keyon remembered he once witnessed Gnarl eating the gooey innards of one of the large insects, it was something he hoped to never experience again.

"Gnarl, is the bard still in Spree?" Keyon asked as he strode up to the tower gate.

"Aye master," Gnarl said, still cleaning his claws. "He has apparently run up a large bill at the tavern and has seduced many of the women of Spree, and yet it seems as though he is still being well received by the people although he does nothing by play that wretched sounding harp of his all day."

"Is it possible that he has somehow bent their pathetic minds with some sort of magic Gnarl?" Keyon growled, already growing impatient just thinking of the bard controlling HIS peasants.

"Hmmm... I cannot say for sure sire," Gnarl said, staring into the pool, "He could be using his own wiles on them. The people of Spree always have been... pathetic. But I must ask, did you find nothing during your recent battle?"

"The monk had nothing of value. She claimed to have children under the tower in a hidden room but I doubt she had anything at all." Keyon snorted, looking down on the peasants as they went about their business.

"Well as mistress Rose once told me at length, monks are known to take a vow of poverty," Gnarl sighed, the conversation reminding him of many of the long winded lectures Rose used to give. "If she did not have anything she could have taken nothing from the battle with the old overlord."

"These heroes, I have noticed there is something strange about them Gnarl." Keyon said, "Each one I faced there was something... off. The cleric hid a large booby within the idol of her god, which makes little sense if she was indeed a cleric of a good deity. The druid used a metal weapon against me and the defenders of the wood are forbidden to wield metal weapons, and the monk while strong preferred to hide behind children and explosives than fight on a fair battleground."

"I do not understand what exactly you are getting at master but I see how that is strange." Gnarl said, looking back at the stairwell to the spawning pit. He was still feeling a little hungry and after how good that last beetle tasted he felt like indulging in another one.

"I am not certain but I don't think any of them were what they claimed they were." Keyon said, "But I'm sure this trend will continue with the bard, but before I kill him I will make him tell me everything he knows about the sorcerer."

"A wise plan sire." Gnarl mused, "Will you be leaving soon?"

"Once my sword is finished I will depart." The young overlord said, turning back to sit in his throne. If he had to wait for his sword he wanted to wait in the comfort of his own throne. "I trust Ziva will keep my tower in order while I'm away."

He did not have to wait long, within the span of fifteen minutes Giblet came out of the armory holding a still warm sword in his gloved claws.

"Sword all done master!" Giblet cried through his thick welding mask.

Wordlessly taking the sword, Keyon marveled at how powerful the sword felt in his hands. Standing from the stone throne he gave the weapon a few experimental swipes and thrusts with the blade. It was well balanced and felt exceedingly sharp, as to be expected after the flogging Giblet had been given by the other minions.

"Excellent, this will do nicely Giblet." Keyon said, giving the minion the slightest of glances as he strode past him towards the tower gate.

Giblet cheered, happy to get any form of praise from his master and returned to the armory. He only wished the dwarven beer kettle was still in the tower, he would have celebrated by drinking while eating some of the larger beetles that live near the spawning pits.

Beer however was the last thing on Keyon's mind as he headed for the tower gate and slowly stepped down into the dark waters and vanished. Spree was about to see their new overlord for the first time.

---

To be continued.

---

ShadowDragonAmor - He will soon. =D

dragonmaster77 - So glad you enjoyed last chapter. I felt the fic needed a little touching moment to balance out the violence before we get to more violence.

almostinsane - I felt it was time for some contrast in Keyon's personality. Noble is about the right word to use, since Rose acted like a noble she's obviously want her son to have some manners.

Feneris - Nope. Not dead. Just been buried under snow, work, and other projects.

BrazeRancor - Yeah, and in my fic I had Keyon burning down a house and killing teenagers and maybe even a baby. It's been so long I can't remember all the details. XD But yeah, I never under stood why not kill kids. I mean if you're going to sacrifice people, sell them into slavery, and even run around semi-naked. Yet killing kids... I don't get it.

Warrior of Virtue - exactly how I feel.

FTKnight - Thanks. I know the overlord in the game never talks and we never know what he's really like. That bugged me a little, but if you make a game with choice in it it can be tough to give the main character a voice.

Make-War-Not-Love - Hope this is soon enough.

anon - she clearly was, but what you know may not be what Keyon knows.


	19. Memories and silence

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation

Part 18

* * *

The young overlord's horde left a path of trampled grass as they followed him on his trek towards Spree. Last time Keyon visited Spree he had come under the guise of a wanderer. This time he came as he truly was; the overlord. Clad in his new durium armor, armed with his durium sword, he marched down the lush country side towards the gates of Spree.

The memory of his father, the previous overlord, would still be fresh in the peasants' minds. Keyon's plan of battle sounded simple enough, he would merely walk into Spree and intimidate the dirt-farming people into handing him over. By now they would know about the incident at the Harlow farm where Keyon had slaughtered Ziva's family, which he now took no pleasure in doing. Stopping in his tracks to look out at Spree from the hillside his mind wandered to the night of the funeral he gave his parents.

* * *

_Flashback..._

The minions had done a good job of scrounging the nearby countryside for suitable pieces of dry wood for the pyres, which both stood nearly fifteen feet in height not far from the tower's base. Keyon himself had cleaned his mother and father's faces and moved them to the top of the pyres. They were both dressed in the best clothes the minions could find amid the destruction of the private quarters, their sets of arcanium armor were to be stored for future uses and for sentimental value.

The new overlord felt his heart grow heavy and a few tears escape his poor attempt at a controlled expression as he took one last look at his red-haired mother. She looked so calm and serene laying on the pile with her arms crossed. All of the memories of her lectures and lessons came flooding back, taking all of Keyon's fortitude to keep from breaking down and bawling like a babe there by the pyre.

Finally, after a long pause Keyon lit his mother's pyre and moved on to his father's. Despite his attachment to his mother, Keyon did not feel the same wave of sadness and regret as he took one final look at his father*. The minions had placed the deceased overlord on the pyre and covered his body from the neck down with a torn sheet that had been left behind in the raid, but even though he was dead the former overlord still seemed to wear the same cold and piercing gaze Keyon had seen every day from his father. With a snarl of repressed contempt Keyon lit his father's pyre. He may not have been happy with how his father had treated him when he was growing up but he did respect how he had taken control of the land and ruled for nearly two decades. That respect was only amplified now that Keyon would have to do the same, with his father's death the people who had sworn fealty to him would now consider all matters of loyalty over.

Sighing at all that had been taken away from him, Keyon walked away from both pyres to watch the flames as his parents slowly vanished in the heat of the fires and the twisting smoke. Not wanting to see the remains, Keyon turned to the tower gate that lay at the base of the tower.

Before entering the arcane gate to the tower's throne room Keyon told his minions to scatter the remains of the fires when the fires had died down... and not to eat anything they found. With that said the new overlord retreated back into the tower. In the throne room he could hear the soft sobbing from the farm girl he had taken from his raid on the Harlow farm. Part of him wanted to comfort the girl, but he had just killed her family. If he showed weakness such as emotion, surely she would not be prompted to give him the respect he deserved

Leaving the girl to cry herself to sleep, Keyon returned to his room and flung himself onto the soft mattress. It remained on the broken bed inside his new master bedroom where he began to cry for all that he had lost. He knew full well that this was not becoming of an overlord but the pain was too much to bear. He wished there was some magic at his disposal to bring them back, but he knew such magicks were out of his league and anyone who knew them would want everything he had in exchange. As overlord, that was not something he could allow himself to succumb to. This tower was his inheritance! His mother had told him that it was his duty to rule this land in their absence, but that didn't dull the pain.

_End flashback..._

* * *

Keyon had come to reflect on how exactly he had handled the situation. Part of him wished that he had comforted Ziva; despite her occasional outbursts of anger she was honest with him. He wondered why his thoughts kept returning to Ziva. While he doubted any relationship between them was possible now he now found that he wanted her to like him. Shaking his head, Keyon had to admit that if that was his desire he would have to tread lightly. While it was his duty to make an example of her family, he couldn't admit that he was wrong; without his commanding presence and the fear his title brought he would never be able to rule anything.

Looking back, he saw that half of his forces had either drifted off and were sleeping in the soft grass or were snapping at a few buzzing insects that had come in response to the green minion's rank odor. With a swift kick to a sleeping brown's ribs and a blast of his magic gauntlet's rallying call, the minions fell back into rank. With that settled he continued his march toward Spree's front gate.

The river that flowed under the open draw bridge was as clear as ever and the blue minions whined in hunger upon seeing a few juicy frogs disappear into the waters. But the river was not what concerned the young overlord; it was that the door was open and there were no guards to meet him either under the archway or on the battlements. In fact the normal sounds of children playing, merchants selling their wares, and the drunken ramblings from the tavern were all replaced with an unnatural silence that was broken only by the occasional far off bleating of the sheep from their pastures.

To Keyon the silence told him something was wrong, and passively he wondered how if Gnarl had been observing Spree all this time if he had not noticed how deserted the town had become. Sending some his minions in to investigate the tavern, they quickly came back holding still warm pieces of mutton and half full beersteins which they soon gobbled down.

"No one inside! All gone!" The minions shouted with beer on their breath and mutton in their teeth.

Keyon was about to return to the tower to think things over when one of the greens walked out of the tavern carrying a green orb that was glowing brightly. Despite Keyon's education in recognizing various arcane objects, this one was lost on him.

"Master, that's an Eye of Deception!" Gnarl echoed from the tower, "It's an arcane object meant to project illusions so that things cannot be seen by magical means. If this means that there is an illusion, I can't see what kind."

"How is it that you only see it now, Gnarl?" Keyon growled out loud, not caring if he appeared to be talking to himself. Who was there to hear him anyway?

"Your proximity seems to be allowing me to see it, Master." Gnarl said, "Ask one of the peasants walking by you who brought it there."

Rather than correct his minion master Keyon dropped the magical orb to the ground and raised his sword and thrust it down. The Eye of Deception shattered like glass before Keyon's durium sword, but the magical sphere released a harmless wave of green energy as it's powers died, shattering the illusion that Gnarl saw.

Gnarl felt like a fool, had he been staring at a lie this entire time? "So, all this time that little toy's been showing me a illusion... um, oops?"

Keyon didn't want apologies, he wanted the bard. "What do you see now Gnarl?"

"There seems to be activity around the entrance of Castle Spree, I'm certain you will find something there." Gnarl's voice suddenly shifted, as if something was happening back in the tower, "Excuse me master, I'm afraid something has come up. You should return to the tower at once."

Not knowing what was so urgent, Keyon would comply with this interruption of his vengeance this one time. If something was happening at the tower then it warranted investigation; if the tower, fell he fell.

* * *

Ziva raced down the steps to the spawning pit to see what had Gnarl in such a foul mood. She would have preferred that old minion had come down here if it was dangerous like he said it might be.

Since her arrival in the tower Ziva had come to know and dislike the spawning pit. While this is where new minions were culled from stolen life force and Ziva had come to almost like the little creatures, she could not stand the horrid stench that arose from every nook and cranny of the cavernous area. The first time she came down here the smell had nearly knocked her off her feet. But the sight of the tower heart made up for it. The Heart was a large crystal sphere that shined with a blue light that was so magically powerful that smaller rocks and stones were trapped in a slow orbit around the heart as it floated five feet off the rocky floor.

But Ziva was shocked when she saw that Maya was down here and what she was doing was far from the task of cleaning the different minion hives. The elf was standing within the field of floating rocks, rocking the massive Tower Heart as if to try to dislodge it from its invisible holding place.

"Maya, what are you doing?!" Ziva cried as she cleared the last few steps.

Maya looked back at the farm girl with contempt and leaned onto the Heart. When Ziva came to pry the elf away the farm girl received a sharp kick to the ribs. Ziva coughed as the air was forced from her lungs and crumpled to the ground, having no idea that the thing elf could hit that hard.

With the satisfaction of making Ziva fall to the floor, clutching her chest in pain apparent on her face, Maya pushed hard one more time. The Heart's invisible tethers finally strained and gave way. The rocks that had previously been floating under the Heart 's power fell to the ground around it. If the Tower Heart had been made of lesser crystal like the Eye of Deception it would have shattered like glass, but the harder-than-diamond Heart merely made the clinking of two champagne flutes touching each other in a celebratory toast as it began to roll on the floor.

At first Ziva believed this to be some kind of rebellious act to gain Keyon's attention or to show her dissatisfaction with having to follow a human's orders while Keyon was out of the tower. But as the farm girl-turned-mistress stood, still holding her bruised chest, she could see that some sort of circle had been etched in the dirt right where the Tower Heart was rolling.

The Heart stopped dead in its tracks as it rolled into the circle, which glowed blue with power as the circle's delicate and barely visible runes began to siphon power from the Heart in order to power the teleportation spell that the circle was intended for.

"Tell 'Master' that he could have had me instead of death." Maya said snidely as she quickly ran over the circle and with a quick uttering of some elvish incantation she and the Tower Heart vanished without a sound.

Ziva could hardly believe what had just happened. Maya had just stolen what had been explained to her as the source of nearly all that made the dark tower such a powerful fortress. With it gone all of the blame would fall on her shoulders- would Keyon have her executed for this failure? No, at least she thought not. After the time they spent together it didn't feel right that he would just fly off and harm her like the barbaric way he had slaughtered her family. She could tell he wasn't quite the same way with her.

Regardless of her feelings, the tower's defenses would soon begin to give way as the residual magicks of the Tower Heart were used up. Ziva just hoped that she had not sided with a doomed young man.

* * *

To be continued.

* * *

AN: Getting really Pi--ed off at FF's formating. I never know what the heck's going to happen when I hit the submit chapter button.

almostinsane - Yeap. Spree's in for it now.

Warrior of Virtue - Sadly, don't get that ref.

Make-War-Not-Love - Glad you're loving this fic, as for bad things, they may happen, they may not.

anon - Glad you like that little scene, I always thought that's how the overlord gets rid of his table scraps.

ivan the terrable - okay, 1. The peasants have the loyalty of spineless cowards, 2. uh, thanks? 3. I kinda don't care.

Narrator 45 - The idea crossed my mind, we'll see where things go.


	20. Off to war

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation

Part 19

* * *

Upon finding that the Spree tower gate was no longer functioning Keyon knew something horribly wrong had happened back at the tower. Something had to have happened to the Tower Heart, had the heroes staged a counter attack once he was out of the tower, or had Ziva... no. He couldn't believe that she would be treacherous enough to try to destroy the Heart without proof. Maya on the other hand had motive but she had sworn fealty to him. Whatever the case he needed to get back to the tower and assess the situation. It was going to be a long walk to the tower.

No sooner than Keyon taken his first step off of the stone base of the functionless tower gate than Gnarl's voice rang through Keyon's head, though not as loudly as any other time.

"Master, I have grave news." Gnarl said, "That elf creature has done the unthinkable, in the time she has been cleaning the spawning pits she etched a circle of transport and has taken the Tower Heart."

Keyon gritted his teeth, this was partially his fault. If he had just beaten the elf when she had spoken out against Ziva becoming mistress then maybe she would have had more incentive to obey him.

"Mistress Ziva tried to stop the elf but she failed, she is quite afraid of your reprisal my lord." Gnarl did nothing to hide the desire in his voice. Watching Keyon punish the farm girl would make the old minion feel like he just he crawled out of the hive. "Shall I get out my iron maiden out sire? It needs to be used."

Keyon smiled under the magical darkness that concealed his face. Ziva had proved to him that she was more than deserving of her title as tower mistress. But there was no time to stand around mentally praising her, if the Tower Heart was gone then he would have to spent time hunting down Maya and not the bard.

"No Gnarl, see that she is treated well." Keyon said, hoping that the magic would hold out so he did not have to walk all they way through the lower sections of the tower and through the spawning pit to speak to his Minion Master. "Do you think the elf is involved the heroes or this was planned by the elves all along?"

"Hmm... There is no evidence to support either idea, sire." Gnarl said, "But this does benefit the heroes and could not have come at a worse time. Head for Spree, I will do what I can from here."

Keyon nodded and headed back towards Spree with his horde of minions right behind him.

* * *

Ziva was laying on Keyon's bed, nursing her aching stomach. She was sure Gnarl was going to chew her out for resting on the master's bed but she needed to lay down after Maya had kicked her. If Ziva's muscles had been taunt or the kick a little higher then perhaps she wouldn't be coughing and finding it so hard to breathe.

One of the passing reds heard Ziva coughing and looked inside. It's glowing red eyes and horns reminded Ziva of a number of monsters her father and brothers told her about when she was a little girl. But this little monster was at Keyon's beck and call, and as tower mistress were they also at hers?

"You there... bring me water... please?" Ziva said, as loudly as her aching stomach would allow.

The red minion grinned and ran away from the doorway. A minute passed and Ziva did not think the little creature was going to return. But just as she was about to turn over in the bed and put a pillow over her head she heard a loud raspy croak.

Looking back she saw the red holding a clay cup up for the young lady. Ziva felt the little minion looked rather charming, it was offering the cup up in both hands as if it was making an offering to a queen or deity. Was that what these little guys saw her as? Smiling at the little minion she took the cup and took a draught from the cup... and promptly spit it out. The water was scalding! She thought the little minion had pulled a prank on her but saw from how it was cringing from her, expecting to be struck by an armored hand.

Ziva began sucking in air to try to cool her burned mouth and set the cup on the bed. She knew it was stupid for her to ask the red for anything she didn't want cooked or boiled. Gnarl had once told her about how the reds drew their power from an infernal plane, giving their hellish appearance and the ability to vomit the flaming napalm they threw in battle.

It did not take much to imagine that if the red's were linked to the elemental force of flame then it was clear that this little minion would inadvertently bring the water to a boil. This idea was annoying but she saw no reason to bring harm to the red. She reached out to pat it on the head but drew back, if it could boil water by touch alone what could it do to her hand?

"It's okay... I'm sure you didn't mean it." Ziva said with as pleasant a face as she could muster. She was certain that the skin on the roof of her mouth was going to peel later. "Just have one of your blue siblings to fetch me something cold to drink."

The red blinked at her and grinned a fang filled smile at the farm girl and sped out of the room. While this meant that the minion was getting right to work it left the young lady with a sore mouth, her bruised belly, and a bit of a headache from all the worrying about what Keyon could do to her.

As Ziva began to drift off to sleep she heard the slapping of flat feet on the stone floor followed by a noise that could only be likened to the croak of a large frog. Turning on the bed she could see a blue minion holding a dented metal beerstein. Taking the vessel Ziva took a draught, not even bothering to check its contents. What hit her tongue was a heady ale that left her mouth covered in foam. Coughing a little from the surprise that she was drinking a cold beer and not cold water she looked at the blue who seemed a little confused. But rather than complain or ask for something else Ziva decided to count her blessings and downed the contents. She had never really liked beer, having snuck a few sips from her father's private supply when she was younger. It was the taste she didn't care for, having never been drunk in her life or been in the company of heavy drinkers she had no real opinion on those who abused the spirits.

"I see someone found the old master's private supply of ale." Gnarl said, fanging a grin. "Mistress Rose was a stickler for sobriety so the old master had to hide it exceptionally well. I'm not surprised it survived the hero's attack."

"It... has an interesting taste." Ziva said, pouring the hot water into the now empty beerstein. She didn't want to burn herself further. "Is something the matter with my partaking of it?"

"Not at all, but I do have news from the master." Gnarl noted how the young lady stiffed up at this tidbit of news. "He is now heading for Castle Spree, it seems something quite unnatural is happening there."

"And... what of the incident in the spawning pit?" Ziva's voice was barely above a whisper. The fear of reprisal was poorly hidden on worried young lady's face.

"He sends his hopes for your recovery and that there will be no punishment for your failure." Gnarl sounded almost disappointed, "But the tower is now nearly without the magic that keeps it the secure center of an evil empire. I would think of a way to redeem yourself quickly."

Gnarl shuffled away, leaving Ziva alone to think on his words. Ziva laid back on the bed. Her mind was starting to feel a little fuzzy from the ale. But Gnarl was right as much as she hated to admit it, she needed to think of something to help Keyon.

* * *

To be continued.

* * *

AN: Short but it's an update. We're counting down people!

Warrior of Virtue - Burning stuff is a family event. In the words of Oderous Urungus: "If you find this disturbing, or a little repulsive COME CLOSER!"

dragonmaster77 - Oh yeah. Real bad.

Feneris - Glad you find it interesting, that's what I shoot for.

Neo-Kira - I picked Rose for that same reason. I never really used a big number of greens or reds.

anon - hate to disappoint you but Maya's never going to see the dungeon. I have something worse in mind for her.

almostinsane - Oh yeah. Maya's gunna get it.

Make-War-Not-Love - That's your opinion. If you don't like it give an actual reason or don't read it.


	21. Breaching Castle Spree

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New generation

Part 20

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Castle Spree stood as an imposing and difficult fortification to gain access to. Unlike Heaven's Peak there was no sewer system to infiltrate and the drawbridge was raised. While there were a few places where the keep were approachable these only led to impassible sections of sheer stone walls. The gorge the drawbridge normally covered was easily over sixty feet, even without his armor Keyon could never jump that far. From what he could see there were no people on the walls of the castle, and he could hear the same piercing silence that enveloped the town behind him. Keyon needed a moment to think so he moved over to a nearby rock to sit and study the situation. Keyon was sure that since the last time this fortress was breached by the watchers and raiders like the hero Jewel the fortress had been improved. If his memory served him right his father had actually enchanted the reinforcing steel inside the one approachable wall so there was no chance of him crashing though these walls. It was a show of good faith in the people of Spree, an overlord is nothing without subjects.

The closest section of wall that was reachable stood over one hundred feet tall without any footholds. Much worse the walkway that ran to it was little more than a ledge no wider than ten feet and each side led to certain death. The armored overlord frowned, despite his Minions having claws on their feet and hands they couldn't get very far up the wall before sliding back down. Knowing his minion's ineptitude they would most likely fall off the wall and roll off the ledge. There was nothing here that could help him get over the wall or through it.

Around where Keyon was resting there were just trees, rocks, and bushes. Nothing entirely useful for anything save for starting a fire and that wasn't going to help him in this situation. Still, if there was nothing here there may be something back in the village. Ordering some of this Green minions to return to the village to fetch all the rope they could get their filthy claws on.

The Greens nodded and ran off towards the village, blending into the greenery of the landscape as they ran with only their horrid stench as proof that they were ever there.

Keyon ordered his remaining minions to set up a perimeter at the edges of his vision. If this was part of his enemy's plan to make him waste time trying to get inside, then it would be logical to strike now while he his forces were cut by one fourth. His plan made sense, but it seemed as if he was dealing with an illogical foe. The Greens returned with bundles of 'borrowed' rope from Spree, there had been nothing but the same dead silence to meet them.

Irritated by not deterred by his unseen foe, Keyon recalled his forces and ordered his minions to tie the rope together into one long piece of rope. The little creatures obeyed wholeheartedly, it was only a matter of seconds before they presented their master with a long knotted rope. Taking this in hand Keyon tied it to the pommel of his durium sword, walked up to the nearby wall, and began to warm up his arm.

Keyon's plan was simple, he would just throw the sword as hard and as high as he could and either overshoot the wall or stick the blade into the stone. In either case the minions could climb over the wall and lower the drawbridge for him to enter. So long as there was nothing waiting on the other side to attack this would be easy. But Keyon knew better than to assume that, this had to be a trap but regardless there was no other way into this isolated stronghold.

The young overlord double checked the strength of the rope and took a few experimental swings of the blade to work out the best way to throw it for maximum effect. On his first attempt the sword over shot the wall and glanced off the flagless minarets. If not for rope Keyon would have lost his weapon as it fell down into the canyon. His second try was likewise a failure, it under shot the wall and fell back down to the ground in front of Keyon. Despite the two failures Keyon tried once more, the sword flew at a high arc and landed on the walkway between the protective stone battlements. Keyon tugged on the rope, hoping that the sword's guard would catch. His hopes were dashed as the line went slack. Having become adjusted to wearing a helmet over the time he had taken up his title the armored youth heard faint whistling of a fine blade cleaving the air. There was barely enough time to leap to the side... a little too far. Even encased within durium armor he could tell he had leapt backwards and his heels, and a great deal of his weight was over the side of the cliff.

The enchanted metal of his gauntlet was Keyon's only saving grace, it allowed him to grip his hand into the cracks between the heavy stone blocks used in the construction of the wall. His minions, terrified of loosing their beloved master, immediately rushed over to pull him back onto solid ground. Heaving a loud sigh of relief, Keyon glanced over where his weapon had came down... exactly where he had been standing.

Still he was back to square one. Retrieving his sword Keyon brushed most of the dirt and grass from his newly fashioned weapon and gave a frustrated snort. Even though it was possible for this sword to catch on the protective parapet that rang along the wall it seemed very unlikely for it to be done by his inexperienced hands. He would need a new approach.

If only the tower gate inside the walls functioned he would have simply used the Tower's magicks to transport himself and his minions inside the castle's walls. But with the Tower Heart no longer in his possession he no longer had such a luxury. He was about to return to the rock he had been sitting on earlier to mull this over a little more when he stopped to look down on his minions. Slowly, a thought began to form in Keyon's mind, an idea that may just work.

"You there, Brown." Keyon barked, pointing an armored finger at a sparsely armored Brown minion. "Drop your weapon and strip off your armor."

The Brown's long ears drooped then folded back against its head, thinking that he had somehow displeased his master and was being punished. But it did as it was told. It pulled the cloth wrappings it had stolen off a Raider off its head, set its leather jerkin on the ground, and dropped its little hatchet.

"Good, now come over here." Keyon ordered, carefully untying the knotted rope from his weapon.

The Brown minion once more did as it was told and lumbered over to his master's side. The other minions were already scavenging the discarded equipment to replace their own stolen armor and weapons. There was no chance the Brown would be getting his things back. But that was the least of the minion's problems. Keyon grabbed the Brown's neck and lifted him up to eye level and with some quick rope work he had the minion's waist lassoed tightly with a square knot. Without a word of warning the poor defenseless minion was spun around like a children's toy and hurled into the air.

Keyon grimaced as the tan skinned imp flapped his arms and kicked his legs, it didn't look he was going to clear the parapet. If he fell from that height there was nearly no chance for survival, the Blue minions could only do so much after all.

It was only by the grace of the dark gods of Havoc the Brown crashed face first on the flat top of the parapet, the forward momentum carrying it legs over head onto the hard stone walkway behind the protective barrier. The Brown laid there on the cold stone for a minute before picking himself up, whining loudly in exaggerated agony every second of it.

"Well? Are you alive or not?" Keyon shouted. Wasting all this time on this wall was putting the young overlord in a foul mood and he was not about to let his minions waste anymore of his time moaning about their injuries.

The minion poked its head over the wall, it was scraped up and had was sporting a large gash on its forehead where it had initially connected with the stone parapet. Despite the pain it was in it gave its master a friendly wave and a smile... as a few of its bloody and broken teeth fell out.

"Good now tie the rope to something!" No sooner than Keyon gave his command the minion limped out of sight. A few minutes of silence passed, but the Brown soon returned and waved signaling its success.

Not completely trusting the minion to do this delicate work Keyon decided to test the rope. A single sharp tug on the rope told him that whatever the other end had been tied to was solid enough to support the weight of a few more minions. He didn't dare try to scale the wall himself, in full plate armor and with his blade he exceeded three hundred pounds in weight and the knots holding the rope together could come undone during the climb.

Keyon's next move was to ordering a quartet of his horde to scale the wall using the rope, and once on the other side they were to locate the wheel that would lower the drawbridge. The four minions blabbered their excited gibberish over being able to carry out one of their master's commands as they climbed over the parapet and disappeared.

More silence. It was the silence that worried Keyon. This maneuver was extremely risky, without him to think for his minions there was nothing he could do to keep them from doing something to get them killed.

But despite his expectations that this was some trick to split up his up his fighting force there was no attack from the shadows as the large wooden drawbridge began to come down. As the wooden hub turned, the thick ropes that controlled the bridge's position creaked loudly as they slowly went slack. The creaking and moaning of the ropes may have well have been an alarm bell, the silence that had hung over everything only made the noise more piercing when the bridge connected with the ground with a loud 'thud.'

The quartet of minions came around the corner carrying the first Brown who upon rejoining the horde was tended to by the Blues. Keyon sent the Brown back to the far wall once he was healed to pick up the poor quality equipment that was no other minion wanted. The Brown muttered to itself but Keyon did not have time to go back to town and properly arm the little imp. It would have to make due with the meager bits of armor and the little knife that were left over.

Keyon took a final breath and proudly walked over the drawbridge, his fingers tightly gripping his sword as he lead his horde forward through the open portcullis. Keyon's ears twitched inside his helmet, straining to hear any sign of danger. Now that he stood in the open courtyard of Castle Spree he found that he could indeed hear something. Far off in the distance, down in the open corridor that stood before him that lead down into the dungeons of Castle Spree the faint echo of a harp could be heard playing.

Keyon's fear dissipated instantly, that wretched music could only mean that Paul Stringmaze the bard was down there.

---

To be continued.

---

almostinsane - Yeah.

Warrior of Virtue - Two of my favorite things: havoc and war.

FTKnight - Yep, it was short but full of flavor.

Make-War-Not-Love - thanks.

dragonmaster77 - Um, thanks?

Neo-Kira - well I'm not giving away what happens in the end but I'll send you a PM.

anon - I felt that a little side action was needed for Ziva. I liked giving her a little plottless but entertaining scene.

mimic12455 - Always glad to see a new reviewer, thanks.

Raiko of the Black Rose - This soon enough?


	22. Dungeon Crawling

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New Generation

Part 21

Author's note: As Zenu pointed out I had a Keyon make a durium sword two or so chapters ago, not a not an axe as I had Keyon use in the last chapter I apologize for this. I'm really trying to finish up other stories and comics and I just forgot about that detail completely. It's completely unprofessional but I'm going to go back to my original idea of it being a sword. I'll have to rework the last chapter though. Also: Looking at the review count I'm currently 20 reviews away from 200. That's a confidence boost I haven't had in a long time.

---

Ziva Harlow watched as the minions toiled. It was hard to believe that these little creatures could muster the collective strength to lift the large iron braces into place against the tower's thick stone doors. Now there was no way anyone could enter or leave the tower unless they wanted to try scaling the tower's uneven walls.

The tower mistress was satisfied with the minion's work and gave a nearby Brown an appreciative pat on the head. Gnarl had assured her that once the braces were in place the enchanted stone doors were nearly impossible to force open by any normal means. Gnarl's claims did not exactly soothe her nerves. She had gained a home here in this tower and if she lost it than she would be homeless and without a copper to her name.

Turning and heading back along the winding path back to the higher rooms Ziva whistled for the minions to follow her. The little imps swarmed around her, jabbering for her attention like over-excited children. Their upbeat attitude was refreshing, they seemed almost completely unaware of the serious of the situation. Despite the sharp odor and and the sharp teeth Ziva Harlow found the minions to be charming little companions. They never said no, they were always wanted to do things for her, and all they really wanted in return was a pat on the head and a kind word.

Crossing through the garden of poisonous plants and over the bridge spanning the magma flow Ziva found her way to the Spawning Pit. Where the room had before been brightly illuminated by the tower Heart's perpetual glow now only dim torches lit the room. Throwing long flickering shadows over the walls and floor. What had once been a mildly inviting stone chamber now seemed a scotophobiac's worst nightmare.

Moving onwards the young lady left the Spawning Pit behind and climbed the stairwell to the throne room. Ziva commanded the minions to leave her alone as walked to the balcony, which they did. A sigh escaped her lips as she took in the view of the surrounding countryside, in the distance she could see the patchwork gold and greens of the farms near Spree where she had grown up. Nostalgia creeped its way into her mind and she found herself thinking about the woods near her home, the creaky floorboards of her farm house, the cows she had to milk every morning. The shadow of a circling vulture passing by the Tower sent her crashing back to reality. There was no other option for her now but to protect the tower in Keyon's absence. Ziva folded her arms against her chest to warm them against the chill wind that swept across the balcony but still she found herself staring out at the countryside.

"I hate this..." She thought, "There's a chance that this tower will become my tomb, but there is no where else I can go. Spree is empty and the only thing I could do in Heaven's Peak is... no! I refuse to even think about that disgusting tavern!"

She steeled her eyes against the horizon, "I am not going to be devolve into some kind of whiny fairy tale damsel in distress locked in a tower. There has to be something around here that I can use to make myself stronger, better, more useful to him..."

Looking back at the almost powerless pool of water that was the tower gate Ziva remembered what Gnarl had told her after she had been named tower mistress. The reason she had once had such a strong reaction to the tower gate's magic was because she could not yet control the power that lurked deep inside her. She hadn't believed him at first. After all no one in her family had any magical talent. Gnarl had told her to look through some of the surviving books on magic the previous mistress Rose had compiled during her life. He then would say no more on the subject, whatever his reason.

Turning from the balcony Ziva saw that three Brown minions were lounging around their master's throne. Her first reaction had been to leave them be and get the books herself, but wait... she was the tower mistress. She didn't know where these books were exactly and the minions were much faster on their feet than she was any day.

"You three!" Ziva barked in as commanding a tone as she could muster, "Go upstairs to the private quarters and bring me mist- ... Rose's spellbooks!"

The minions exchanged confused looks. Perhaps they did not remember who Rose was or they did not know where the books were. Either way the three minions got off their warty rumps and sped over to the mistress's side.

Ziva's eyes narrowed into a cold glare, one imposing enough to make the minions slink back a few steps. "I gave you an order so I expect you to carry it out! Now get!"

The minions jabbered to each other before speeding up the stairs. Ziva smiled as they disappeared, she had paid close attention to how Keyon ordered the little creatures to do as he pleased. It was much how she would get the neighboring farm's children to do as she told them. Subtle threats were often more successful one children than open ones. Threatening to throttle a young boy only brought trouble from parents or from his retaliation.

Without really thinking she sat on the stone throne and rubbed her forehead, this place was starting to get to her. Gnarl had said this tower pulsated with evil power, what exactly would happen if she remained here too long? She waited for the minions to come back to her with the books she had commanded them to find. The minions must have been incapable of reading the titles on the books because they returned with their arms overloaded with musty old tomes and dumped them at the mistress's feet.

Ziva frowned and knelt down next to the pile to dig through it. Some were penned by Rose but many others were not exactly what she wanted. Among the the books written by Rose there were books detailing the finer arts of war, unholy tomes once belonging to forgotten religions, the complete works of an elven poet whose name Ziva couldn't pronounce for the life of her. She separated what she needed from the rest and waved for the minions to leave her alone while she began reading.

---

The dungeons of Castle Spree were lined with torches, brightly illuminating the walkway that lead down into the interior of the castle. Aside from the clanking of his armor and the clicking of his minion's clawed feet on the stone floor there were no other sounds Keyon could hear over the music of the the bard's harp.

This rank of treachery. No one was stupid enough to kidnap a village full of people and announce their presence like this without having an ulterior motive. Bards were known for a few tricks here and there but they weren't exactly tough. They normally hid behind other heroes while using music to support their comrades, or so his mother had taught him. But these heroes weren't anything like he was taught. They didn't follow any of the traditions they were supposed to hold dear. The cleric had booby-trapped the idol of her god, the monk used bombs to mine the area where they had clashed, the druid used a metal weapon and was trying to warp animals into obedient servants. It would stand to reason that this Paul Stringmaze would follow this pattern and do something against the Bard's Code.

But what exactly? Bards were just as tricky as thieves and supposedly possessed some magical talent. Back when he was still a child Keyon thought of bards as harmless musicians, he didn't have that luxury now since this bastard was one of the heroes who had slew his father and mother.

The gentle strumming of the harp was getting louder the further the overlord stalked into the expansive underground dungeons of Castle Spree. It was not the music that unnerved him, but the lack of other sounds around him. There was no skittering of rats along the roughly hewn stone floor, no shuffling of brushes as servants scrubbed the floors, no wails of despair from the condemned. Only the plucking of the harp. There was no way this was natural.

The main corridor was long behind him and he now was standing in the central junction of the dungeon. To the east were the main holding cells for minor infractions of Spree's laws (which in the past were set not by Spree's rulers but by the overlord) and to the west were the castle provisions were stored. A cruel thing to set within smelling distance of prisoners who were only fed stale bread and water.

To the south stood the wide stairwell that lead down to another section of the dungeon that was meant to act as a shelter for everyone should there be an attack from forces outside the overlord's control. It was from here the music was coming from. The only other direction was north, and that only led back outside and away from his quarry.

With his minions at his heels Keyon traveled down the stairs, placing each step with all the care he could muster. He wished to keep the clattering of his durium armor to an absolute minimum so not to rouse the bard's attention just yet. His minions sensed their master's intent and creeped quietly behind him. They kept their weapons raised above their scaly heads so that they did not accidentally clang against each other's helmets, weapons, or armor as they walked in the standard formation for minions. The tough Browns in front, the sneaky Greens behind them, the fire throwing Reds ready to give support to the fighters, and the Blues in the very back.

At the bottom of the stairwell Keyon was met with the a sharp turn to the right which was connected to a short hallway. At the end of this hallway was a door that had been left wide open as if he had been expected. As they came to the door way Keyon waved for his horde of minions to halt as he slunk back against the wall to peer into the room without being easily spotted. The door that Keyon was scanning the room from was set in the corner of the room at the end of a short entrance way above a small flight of stairs. From his poistion he could not see the entirety of the room. The room was vast, by Keyon's estimate it was sixty feet by forty and with very high ceiling. Just like the rest of the dungeon it was made of uneven roughly hewn stone blocks that would have taken a troll to set in place. At the back of the room stood a raised platform made of red brick that stood six feet off the stone floor. It's original purpose wasn't clear but now it served as a seat for the very man Keyon sought.

Resisting the urge to charge in Keyon looked around the room again. There was an ad hoc flight of stairs made of barrels, crates, and other bric-a-brak leading up up to the platform but it looked incapable of supporting his weight. Behind the bard was a large sheet of cloth that was draped over a large but totally obscured object. No doubt a trap of some sort.

Returning his gaze to the bard he found him to be no worse for ware since he came to Spree. The bard was sitting cross-legged with his back against whatever was under the curtain. His feathered hat was pulled down so far Keyon could not see the bard's short gotee. Perhaps his hat was pulled down to keep the torchlight out of his eyes or perhaps to make himself seem an easy target. It wasn't clear which was the case. His short sword was still sheathed and hung at his hip so he wasn't defenseless.

As Keyon slowly began to inch his way down the steps into the wide room his eyes fixed onto the bard. Should he even twitch Keyon would use whatever magical power he had to set the wretched performer on fire. Out of the corner of his eye the young overlord noticed something was off about the floor. There seemed to be colors that were not the same as the rest of the stone floor. Chancing a quick look away to investigate Keyon suddenly gasped. The floor was littered with the corpses of the villagers of Spree! No... not corpses. Keyon could see their glazed over eyes blink and their chests heaving with slow but deep breaths. Keyon was so relieved he almost missed how the music had stopped playing.

Quickly turning back to the raised platform Keyon saw Paul Stringmaze standing proudly over him with his small harp tucked under his left arm. The sly grin that lay behind that well trimmed beard set Keyon's blood aboil. It was clear that the villagers were under some sort of enchantment. What kind he had no idea, but perhaps they would awaken if he broke that damned harp over the bard's skull.

"I can see you're quite tense young man, shall I play you a tune to ease your nerves?" Paul mused in a smooth melodic tone. The same tone he had used to charm brainless barmaids into his bed no doubt.

But Keyon was no fool, a bard's power lay in his music and in his voice. So long as he kept his wits about him he couldn't be effected by this charlatan's tricks. Keyon stood with his sword at the ready; would this fool attack, play more music on his harp, or pull some unforeseen devious trick? Behind him his minions growled and spat and made rude gestures at the bard. They had been bored since there had been so little to do on this journey and a good fight was all they had on their tiny minds right now.

"Now now, we can't begin just yet." A feminine voice said.

Turning his head slightly Keyon saw a cloaked figure almost float out from behind the shrouded object. While the figure's hood was pulled so far down that Keyon could not see a face the black cloak was not pulled closed. Judging from the long slender legs that were being shown off this person was obviously female. She was wearing a short pair of black breeches, a matching pair of high heeled leather boots that from their condition may well have never been used before. Around her trim waist was a black lacy corset with red trim that showed off a very generous endowment. Did this woman exist or was the bard's magic starting to creep into his mind?

As the woman pulled back her hood and poor young man nearly fainted from shock. The long wavy blond hair, the green eyes that seemed to pierce through his very being, the long pointed ears. This dark figure was Maya!

---

To be continued.

---

almostinsane - Sadly, minions don't get no respect.

Warrior of Virtue - Hope this was good enough for 'carnage'. =3

Make-War-Not-Love - I've been doing writing exercises thanks to the gotham writer's workshop. Never had anything more helpful in the subject of writing in all my years in school. So, yeah, your review was actually the best ego boost I had when I uploaded the last chapter. But never underestimate how the more ambitious people here on FF can influence you to want to improve.

Neo-Kira - Yeah I've seen the previews. It looks great. As for the blues, medics never get any respect. By the time this is up I will have already looked at your fic if it's uploaded.

Dragonmaster77 - Nah, just didn't have a proper response.

anon - yeah, I'm back.

D-F - Will do.

Feneris - I wouldn't recommend it. You'd never get the can away from them before they'd finish the contents.

Norman: Maya being one sided is my fault, I moved too quickly into the choosing scene and didn't take the time to give her much depth or personality. Trust me I'll make up for that.

bdun - I started this fic just about when Raising Hell came out. I can't wait until the game comes out. (I have it preordered so I can get a minion action figure. =3 )

Zenu - ... DO'H! You're absolutely right! I did have him make a sword instead of an axe. This is why you should never get too many projects going at once. You start to forget the little details of your story.

Thunderclan - thank you.

chris - It ain't dead! It's just sleeping since I have other projects in progress. Still, glad someone else is following along with the story and noticed that.

Xanophillius Nacindo Dulliante - ah, finally some high quality praise. Yeah, the game's a gem and horribly under rated by reviewers. Glad to see people are finding my fic easier thanks to FF **finally** putting in an Overlord section. For about 2 years this fic sat in the misc game section getting no attention. Thanks for reviewing man.


	23. True enemy revealed

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New Generation

Part 22

---

The elf brought a hand to her face, pulling a stray bang of straw-gold hair away from her face. Her emerald green eyes continued to stare down at the young man as she stood boldly on the platform. Maya's pouting lips formed a confidant smile as if she had already defeated her former master.

The bard set deceptively heavy harp down on the platform as he leaned against the back wall. He then lazily pushed his wide brimmed hat up out of his eyes with two fingers. He wanted to have a good view of as this little scene that was about to unfold before him; it looked like it would prove to be entertaining.

Keyon's hands tightened around the handle of his sword as he glared up at the elf and the bard.

"If Maya is here then the Tower Heart had to bee here as well. But where? Underneath that tarp?" Keyon wondered. His eyes moving from the obscured object to Maya. "Her plan was traitorous the second she arrived in my tower. Those elves... oh they will wish that my father had slaughtered them all years ago."

Maya's smile continued, "The child is so angry Paul, how long do you think it will be until he explodes?"

The bard chuckled softly, "With a look like that I would think that he should level mountains with a glance alone."

"Do not mock me!" Keyon roared, the blue glow that obscured his eyes was now a blazing red. "I know that you stole the Tower Heart Maya, return it now and I may let you live to see the following day you traitorous harlot!"

Maya threw her head back as she laughed, her golden locks shaking with each cackle. The sound of her laughter filled the room as she enjoyed some unknown joke. One the young overlord did not understand.

The elf's laughter ended with a dismissive sigh, "I believe your mother taught you that you catch more bees with honey than vinegar my boy."

"Do not presume to lecture me thief!" Keyon shouted, his own voice filling the room now. "I know stealing the Tower Heart was your father's plan all along. Confess your crime!"

Another bout of the elf's laughter rang throughout the room. But this time the bard joined in with his own amused chortle.

"Which father do you mean Keyon?" Maya's tone was as sharp as the downward glare she gave her former master. "But why should I expect you to figure out what I had planned your entire lifetime? This whole time you've been stomping about the countryside playing the role of my little fool."

"Do not use that word to describe me or your tongue is forfeited elf!" Keyon screamed, his eyes still a searing red.

"Hahaha! Still you presume to order me as though you have power." The straw haired elf pulled the thick cloth off of the object behind her. As soon as the curtain was removed a soft red light filled the room, drowning out the flickering shadows creatd by the torches.

It was the Tower Heart, no doubt. The arcane artifact floated a few feet off the floor between four six foot tall wrought iron posts. These posts were rough and cast no reflections, almost as if they fed on the light that the massive crystal orb was giving off. The normal blue hue of the tower heart was gone. Now the tower's power source burned a deep crimson and bathed everything within the chamber the hue of blood.

"Without the Tower Heart I know that you have almost no magical power left. Without it you are little more than a low class fighter with a few minions." Maya gloated, looking almost otherworldly as she was bathed in the red light.

"Cease your prattle and face me Maya, or are you afraid of a 'low class fighter' would be too much for you to handle?" Keyon's threat was backed up by the gnashing of teeth and clanging of weaponry. His minions were growing anxious for battle.

"I see you inherited none of my sister's intellect." Maya sighed, "I'm sure if she was still around she would have figured it out. A shame really, her keen mind was her one redeeming quality."

"Enough of your riddles!" Keyon growled and waved his hand, signaling his horde to attack.

Wild, brazen war cries erupted as Keyon's minions charged towards the makeshift staircase. Keyon watched Maya and Paul, expecting the bard to draw his sword or Maya to spring some sort of trap. Instead the bard smiled as he calmly plucked his harp from the ground and began to play. As the harp's music echoed off the walls the minions slowed to a stop, staring off into space.

Keyon could feel his sword becoming heavy in his hands as he listened the bard's music. He wanted to just listen to the melody... wait this wasn't right. A clang was heard over the music as Keyon's gauntlet connected with his helmet in a self inflicted blow. Leaving him with a light headache.

"My mind's a little clearer..." Keyon thought, "It seems my minions aren't are resilient as I am though. I can feel that wretched mustic seeping back into my brain."

Clamping his teeth down on his tongue Keyon let out a faint yelp. He could taste blood but the pain had become something to focus on instead of the droning music. The minions had dropped their weapons and were rocking back and forth with the melody. Raising his gauntlet Keyon attempted to call his minions back to him with the booming signal it possessed. No sound could be heard over the music, either it was being drowned out by the bard's harp or he was so low on magical power that even his gauntlet was not functioning.

Maya waved for Paul to stop playing his harp. Even as the bard's harp was lowered and placed under his arm the minions continued to stand entranced where they stood. Keyon swallowed, tasting copper, his minions were only a few steps away but should he go to slap some of them the bard or Maya could easily slay them. Secretly Keyon knew that when minions are not armed or unaware of danger it was actually quite easy to kill the little imps. He still had his sword and a clear escape route. This horde may be lost but he could retreat and come back with another.

Maya strolled over to the minions to scratch a Brown's chin. The entranced Brown gave a contented sigh, its mind a million miles away.

"You're as cute as ever, aren't you my little pixie?" Maya cooed to the Brown, giggling a little as its tongue minlessly rolled out of its mouth. Casting a neutral look over her shoulder to Keyon she said; "I wouldn't think of running if I were you. After all we need you here to finish our little game."

A snap of the elf's slender fingers and the only door in or out of the room slammed shut on its own. No doubt from the elf's magic. Against two magic users who wanted him, with only a sword and a horde of mesmerized minions. His choices of action were limited, but the door may still be a viable option. It was a door made of plain wooden planks nailed together. He could easily bash it down with his armored boot. But it seemed too easy. If they had planned this all so well then the door may be booby trapped or magically fortified.

Glancing back at the door his assumptions were unfortunately correct. The door was now covered in glowing red runes. Offhand Keyon wondered if this was Maya showing her true magical nature, or power she was leeching from the Tower Heart?

"What is the purpose of all this Maya?" Keyon asked, sword still in an aggressive position. He refused to outwardly show weakness in the face of these two. "You haven't told me anything beyond meaningless babble."

"This child is so transparent. He's stalling for something to present itself. As if I would just offer him the opportunity on a silver plate." Maya giggled.

"Do you think the poor lad can handle it?" Paul chuckled, "You've gone through a lot of changes since you last saw him."

Maya tore her attention away from the minion to look back at the bard. "Yes, I know my nephew can be a hard headed fool. But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Nephew?" Keyon wondered aloud, "Enough with your mind games."

The elf placed a hand on her hips and gave the young man a sly smile. "Oh I never got to see you much when you were a babe. But in the years since father's death I've picked up a few tricks. But I assure you auntie Velvet's telling you the truth."

Keyon laughed, this was all too rich. "Aunt Velvet? Please, she would be a woman in her fifties at the very least and from what my mother told me her sister had hair as black as pitch. You hardly fit the description of a graying woman nearing the winter of her life."

"Impudent child." The elf spat, "What has your mother told you of me after I was expelled from the tower hmm?"

Keyon said nothing. When he had asked about his aunt in his youth he received little information from his mother beyond how Velvet was a spoiled woman with more in front than up top.

The elf combed a stray strand of gold hair away from her face. "Nearly two decades ago I was forced out into the wilderness around the tower. At first I thought finding a new man to fulfill my needs and standards would be easy. But your mother and father didn't make that easy for me. The ruling parties they had set up refused to speak to me. No doubt my sister's work, she never approved of me or how daddy liked me more."

"I was forced to work in a tavern, like some common whore for the barest of wages. It was hell but it was were I met Paul. He told me of how he was tired for singing for the ungrateful masses. I was tired of waiting tables and being touched and fought over by the ugliest men in all of Hevean's Peak. Luckily Rose never discovered where I hid some of the magical trinkets I 'borrowed' from Daddy."

"Trinkets?" Keyon thought as his eyes traced over to the bard. "That harp must be one of those items."

His glance did not go unnoticed by the bard or the woman on the platform. They both smiled, glad that he was following along with their story.

"Yes that's right, Paul's harp is one of them. Using it we managed to recruit several talentless thieves and with a little clever suggestion here and there they were easy to manipulate." Maya giggled, "It was funny really, after a few hours of listening to the music they didn't even remember their own names. It took us a month but under my tutelage I created three heroes capable of defeating my sister and her brainless oaf of a man."

Keyon took a deep breath and released it. If he got on that platform he was going to crush the elf's throat with his bare hands.

"What about the elves?" Keyon demanded, "What is their stake in this?"

"Those long eared, tree hugging, joyless prudes?" Maya snorted, "They still believe the lies I told them about ensuring that their race will never be enslaved again. I plan on having a few of them as personal slaves when this is all through. Even that old fool of a village elder believed that his daughter was just going to lure you down here. He had no idea that I really just wanted to use one of Daddy's spells to crawl inside her and eat her soul."

Keyon froze, his mother Rose had taught him about his maternal grandfather. How the overlord before his father had been defeated by a group of heroes and survived by transferring his soul into one of those heroes, The Wizard, and set about turning the former companions against each other and against his father who had then forgotten who he was upon first becoming the overlord. That spell could only have been used by someone with great magical talent, someone like his mother or his aunt.

"Seems like you start to grasp the situation little nephew." Maya, no Velvet said, "I've told you about the past but what did my 'heroes' have in common?"

"You've admitted that they are not what they seem, that they were just thieves with magical trinkets." Keyon said, his cold tone belying the desire to just fly at the elf. "Clara Ironfist stole children, Evan Tangle tried to use magic to warp creatures of nature into minions, and Fern Dawnborn tried to start a cult of the sun. They had nothing in common."

Paul shook his head, "You killed Fern first didn't you? You probably don't recall that she was stealing children don't you?"

Keyon had forgotten those brats he found locked in Angelis keep. "What do children have to do with your stealing the Tower Heart?"

"A child's soul burns brighter than any other light." Velvet said, "We needed that kind of power should you have proven to be less of a man than your father. But you proved Paul's fears to be very wrong..."

Paul gave his lady friend a cockeyed glance, "It was she who thought that he would die on the first day..."

"With you here we can finally open the portal to the Infernal Abyss and reap the power of that plane as your father tried to do. Where he failed I plan on succeeding, with the hordes of the Abyss at my command... well let's say I won't have to worry about living in any tavern ever again.

Paul Stringmaze's face turned to a baleful scowl at how Velvet said 'my command' and not 'our command.' His sword hand twitched, if he had to use it he would without hesitation.

"But I must thank you for making this next part of our plan into order. You see, every overlord's soul travels to that very plane upon his death." The smile Velvet wore twisted into a malicious grin. "We're going to 'barrow' your soul."

---

To be continued.

---

Thanks to Nozem-chan for proof reading this!

Zenu - Well you were partly right huh?

Feneris - I am pleased you think so. I try my best to please my readers. I have also beaten Overlord 1 too many times to count.

almostinsane - She's already worried that if she stays that she may become corrupt since the tower pulsates with evil. Trust me. I got plans in motion.

S058 - Um... no thanks. I tend to leave my chapters a little short so I can get them out faster. That and I found the place I stopped at was a good place to end the chapter for effect.

anon - Thanks man. I try my best.

Warrior of Virtue - Yeah, but not quite what you expected huh?

Nozem-chan - Yes, though recently I've tried to master rereading my own work. I may have to give you a PM. I know I've been bugging Ciella enough about betaing for me.

bdum - something like that...

Xanophillius Nacindo Dulliante - Thanks, I do my best to keep you guys entertained. In the years I've been here on FF I'd like to think I'm improving.

Russian Overlord - I don't think any of those ideas apply right now. XP

naruhina-fanboy-devlin - I'm an inspiration? Self esteem... ergh... rising... I can't stand it!

Dragon Band-Aid - This is amazing! I hope you write something more original soon!

Shinigami Liliz Black - Most Overlord stories tank after 5 chapters. Unless you really want to write something good you have to commit to it. First, cellphone? Second, believe it or not I started this before Raising Hell came out and had no idea they'd have a son of the Overlord or who would turn out to be the one that was his mother.

DreamFeathers - Played and beaten, and from my perspective good and evil are outmodded concepts. But yeah, when I create a character he's more likely going to be chaotic than lawful if you understand DnD terms. The answer to your second question is Melvin Underbelly, Oberon Greenhaze, Sir William the Black, Goldo Golderson, Jewel, Kahn the Warrior, and The Wizard.

Vastler75 - No, that only happened after the tower blew up and as you can tell the tower is still there.


	24. Velvet's victory

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. I only own my OCs.

New Generation

Part 23

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"Then you will have to wrench it from my cold, dead, corpse." Keyon snorted, allowing his glare to voice the rage that was boiling inside his chest.

"Tell me boy, what do you know about the Infernal Abyss?" Velvet asked, intent on one more attempt to see how knowledgeable her nephew really was. It wasn't going to be fun toying with him if he did not know what was about to transpire.

"Enough." Keyon snapped, growing tired of this question game. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that the closest minions were blues and reds. Not a bad pick, if some of his minions were slain before he could snap them all out of their collective trance the blues would be able to revive them while the reds held off the bard and Velvet.

"It is the place where all overlords go when they die." Velvet grinned maliciously, "It's full of the wicked and creatures that torment them with images of their former lives. I have no doubt my little band is there now having their souls rended in their own personal hells. All of the evil energy from all the eons is just sitting there, waiting for someone to use it."

"And you think of yourself as someone who can do that?" Keyon's muscles were tensing, waiting for the right moment to pounce on the nearest blue minion.

"I know it little boy," Velvet said as she turned back to look at the red Tower Heart, "Controlling power is what I do best, and I've been doing it before you were born."

Seizing the moment Keyon flipped his sword upside down; gripping it by the blade with his protected hands and smacked the nearest blue minion on the back with the pommel of his sword. The web footed imp jumped at being struck and rubbed its back; turning its finned face over to find the thing that hit it and kill it. Instead the blue found its master holding his sword by the wrong end.

"Wake up the others you idiot." Keyon whispered, in the large empty room it seemed louder than it should have been.

The blue nodded in obedient compliance and smacked its nearest brother who woke up from its music induced trance. A wave of slapping soon erupted throughout the rear ranks of the horde. The surprised yelps and echoing slaps quickly caught the attention of Velvet and her compatriot.

The bard franticly reached down for his harp. He could see the blues were already waking up the fire throwing red minions and if they were to start attacking he would have no other option but to throw himself off the platform and at Keyon's feet. His fingers fumbled at the first note, producing a loud whine from the harp that stirred the other minions from their trance. Already the browns were waking themselves by shaking their heads and stamping their feet.

The reds had already begun to throw their fire when the music the harp began again. Paul managed to leap out of the way as the adhesive fuel the red minions threw splattered against the back wall.

Reaching behind the imprisoned Tower Heart Velvet grasped a tall staff made of twisted black iron. Raising it above her head she began to conjure something. Wisps of fire crackled along the length of Velvet's staff as she chanted arcane words of power. Whatever spell she was crafting was never completed as a rock whizzed by her head, destroying her concentration and nicking her long elven ear.

Growling a vow of death Keyon rushed the platform. Leaping to get his heavy bulk up onto the platform the young overlord only managed to get his chest over the edge but was already hauling himself up.

Velvet backed away from her nephew and slammed the end of her staff on the floor in front of her. Drawing out power from the Tower Heart she started another spell with a rushed fluttering of gestures with her free hand.

Sword drawn and ready to spill blood Keyon now stood on the platform ready to lunge at Velvet. Armored feet hit the floor three times before a torrent of blue lightning poured from the elf's hand and knocked the young man on his back. He lay there on the cold dungeon floor unable to move as if the energy from Velvet's attack had sapped him of his strength. He rolled over onto his side to ease himself back to his feet when he was struck by another blast of blue lightning. This time the crackling energy did not stop and despite himself Keyon began to scream as the spell flowed through the very core of his being.

The Minions stopped their attack on the bard to stare in concern for their master. Paul grinned and began his song again and music filled the room again. The minions began to sway back and forth as Paul plucked strings. It seemed as if the bard was going to have the imps under his power again soon when an odd scent caught his nose. It wasn't the dead fish smell of green minions nor was it the odor of roasting flesh starting to come from under the young man's durium armor.

Halting his music Paul looked behind him to see the oily napalm the red minions had thrown was still burning on the wall behind him. But this smelled like burning... leather!

What had happened only minutes ago was the napalm had impacted against the wall behind Paul. The resulting splatter sent tiny drops of the red minions's fiery vomit onto the bard's back and his leather armor had caught fire. The smell it was giving off was absolutely putrid. But was it the burning leather or the flammable bile of the red minions that gave off that stench?

Upon realizing this Paul's hands abandoned the harp and flew to his back to quell the scalding heat that was spreading up his back. With a crash the harp fell and splintered on the hard dungeon floor. The harp's destruction caused the minions to stumble as the magic that clouded their tiny minds evaporated once more.

As Paul Stringmaze finally scrambled to pat out the last of the fire out he turned and stooped down to reclaim his musical instrument. His irritated expression was dropped as his hand made contact with splintered wood and tangled harp strings. He had thought his instrument had been made of metal considering how heavy it was for such a small harp, but upon closer inspection it was merely wood gilded with a layer of silvery leaf.

He had barely enough time to lift his head before the minions were upon him. Without the protection his sword his or his music the minions leapt at him and pulled him down. He screamed as the imps piled on top of his chest, hacking and stabbing and biting with animalistic enthusiasm.

Those that couldn't find enough space to join in circled and waited for an opportunity to leap into this feeding frenzy. Paul's screams had ceased but they continued to attack and mutilate the fresh corpse, pulling away his armor to get at his sweet entrails.

A chuckle escaped Maya's lips as she glanced over at the carnage not twenty feet away. The bard had served his purpose and granting his desires of infinite wealth once she had the power of the Infernal Abyss seemed very wasteful. Besides, he was more useful to her dead than alive.

The pain coursing through the young overlord slowly gave way to a numbness that quickly overtook his extremities and advanced towards his chest. He could feel his heart, his very being engulfed by this magic and despite all his training and newfound experience he could feel himself slipping into a cold void. His eyes shot over to the handle of his sword; his hand was gripping it tightly but he could not feel or raise his weapon to fight back.

A light fog filled Keyon's vision as he began to feel his mind growing heavy. The pain was now all gone but he could still see his limbs shaking under the stimulation of Velvet's magical lightning. He was already down, why was she continuing to use this when he was incapacitated like this? She could perform a coup de grace with a rock if she were to halt her spell for a moment.

"You're more resistant than I thought you'd be dear nephew." Velvet said through gritted teeth, "Do not worry, your minions will be busy for a while. You see all this time while the bard in town drinking and eating to his heart's content; he never bothered to ask where the meat and beer was coming from or who was preparing it."

The minions had completely removed the bard's armor and were now ravenously fighting over great hunks of bloody man-flesh. The corpse of Paul Stringmaze was hardly recognizable now as the imps that were late in joining in had to be content with chewing on lesser entrails. The surrounding floor was now coated with a generous splattering of blood and mashed gore.

"A secret blend of spices father discovered before he stormed the Dark Tower the first time. He knew the minions have a taste for sheep so he bought a flock and force fed them the same spices and the little pixies just couldn't help themselves after the first bite."

So absorbed in her anecdote velvet failed to notice was that a soft light was starting to pool around Keyon's chest. Dim at first among the brilliant arcs of azure lightning but quickly the flickering light was rising off of the armored young man's torso like phosphorescent steam.

"Ah, silly me. Looks like you're finally ripe." velvet said as she lowered her left hand to grasp at the mist which seemed to catch in her hand.

On the floor Keyon jerked and twitched wildly as she pulled on the light like a loose thread in a blanket. Velvet abandoned her magic and her iron staff. Now she was zealously pulling and tugging the ethereal light even as Keyon writhed under her; babbling incoherently as Velvet's cold hands ripped at his life essence.

Velvet laughed triumphantly as the last of the mist came loose with a final jerk. It sat in her hands, writhing and twisting like it was spinning around some center that couldn't be seen. Looking down her nephew was lying still as stone; staring up at the ceiling with unblinking eyes.

"Ha ha! It worked! I can't believe how well it went!" Velvet cheered, spying a darkened sliver among the white. "All of this just for you to take the title of overlord and corrupt yourself dear nephew! Even this is enough to warrant you a place in the Infernal Abyss! Thank you father for leaving such a lovely spell as Evil Presence for me to use."

Grinning with sheer avarice Velvet marched over to the crimson Tower Heart. The artifact seemed to pull hungrily on the ghostly blob of life force in her hands; causing its iron cage to rattle the closer it was brought.

"It seems like you want this don't you?" Velvet mused to the magical object, ancient magic relics like the Tower Heart often displayed odd tendencies. Or perhaps it was connected to the Abyss and wanted to swallow it and send it to Keyon's final fate. "Sorry, I have other plans for this one."

Turning to the wall Velvet held the glob of life force up and began to chant loudly in a deep rasping language. As her chanting began to pick up speed a lick of fire appeared on the stonework. The incantation's pace grew faster and faster and the small point of flame spread out until it was a wreath. Velvet had to finish quickly before the minions were done with the bard's remains or else they might turn on her next.

As the chanting came to its crescendo the stone at the center of this ring of fire began to give way to a hellish landscape of fire and jagged black rock. The portal to the Infernal Abyss coughed a stiff, sulphurous wind into the room blowing Velvet's hair back and causing her to bury her nose in her elbow.

"Ugh, such foulness will have to be done away with." She muttered, "At least the gate is open. Now according to the books I just need acquire the Abyss stones and all will be well."

With Keyon's handful of life essence in her clutches Velvet stepped through the portal into the resting place of all fell creatures. Eternal fires leapt towards the reddened sky, wails of torment and anguish could be heard in the distance, sharp and jagged rock seemed to be everywhere. She could feel evil energy swirling around her like a powerful, yet warm embrace. It was all so lovely.

After her third step Velvet halted, she could have sworn she had just heard the rattle of someone taking a step in heavy armor. Whirling around she saw nothing but rock, flame, and the portal leading back to castle Spree's dungeon.

"My my, it seems we have an early arrival."

Despite the heat the blood in Velvet's veins ran cold in fear. The wails and crackling fires were not loud enough for her to make an excuse; that was her late sister's voice she heard. The direction however eluded her; whirling her head around she saw nothing in her general vicinity.

"It seems you have something that you do not deserve to own. As always." The disembodied voice scolded in a cold, disciplinary tone.

"Don't mock me from shadows!" Velvet called out to the rocks; drawing a dagger from under her cloak with her free hand.

The rattle of metal armor resounded once again in Velvet's ears but as before there was nothing to be seen.

"Show yourself! I will be queen of all this realm and I will not be mocked!" Velvet cried out.

All at once dried skeletal figures, all in various stages of decay and with bright light shining from their eye sockets began to shuffle out from every conceivable hiding place among the rocky terrain. Nearly all of these walking were clad in rusting yet still solid metal breast plates, gauntlets, and greaves. Each wielded a large great sword which was held in unnaturally strong hands as evident as several were holding their weapons with only one hand.

Seeing the opposition was well fortified and far outnumbered her, Velvet raised the knife in a defensive posture as she backed toward the portal. These creatures were called Wraiths if the Wizard's volumes were correct. The animated remains of victims of this realm that served as guardians and tormentors. But what unnerved Velvet was that voice.

"Rose is dead, the stupid girl was prim and proper as any noble; always trying to make me look bad." Velvet muttered, trying to calm herself. "She should be here being tormented by wallowing in filth like she deserved!"

Velvet's retreat was cut off when she felt herself back into something. Fearing the portal had closed the elven temptress looked behind her and what she saw was far worse. The portal leading to Castle Spree's dungeons was still there, but standing in front of it was the tall imposing figure of a man covered from head to toe in hell-forged black armor. The tall crown like extensions of his helmet and the large war axe in his hand betrayed his identity as the previous Overlord, once known as the eighth hero. On his elbow was none other than Rose, clad in the same metal armor except she wore no helmet, and as if to mock Velvet she appeared just as youthful and beautiful as she had been in her early twenties. Somehow death had become her fountain of youth while Velvet had to cast off her aging body for this new one.

Rose smiled upon seeing her sister sneer up at her. "I'd know you no matter what flesh you hide yourself in sister. Mayhap it's because I've dwelt in this Abyss for so long."

"Move yourselves! You are both dead and the dead cannot bar my path." Velvet threatened, holding up her dagger which began to glow. "This dagger comes from father's own weapon collection and can destroy undead like yourselves."

The overlord chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that communicated despair with hardly any effort. "She does not know."

"I ordered you to stand aside!" Velvet demanded, almost shrieking in her urgency to be rid of the duo standing in front of her.

"The years have not been kind to you sister. Though I know you deserve it not." Rose's smile widened seeing how pathetic and craven her sister was acting. "You wanted to come here so badly that you did not even examine the bodies you left in the Tower. Yes I am dead sister, dead as dust. But the man you slew was just a puppet so that my son would not grow up without a father's presence; crafted from father's own notes on Necromancy. The man who stands before you not only rules this plane but lives as you do; and he has had plenty of time to hone his skills here."

The overlord's axe rose above his head, not even allowing Velvet time to bribe or con her way out of this predicament. Velvet put the knife to the glowing mass of life force; in hopes of ransoming their son's life. But before she could get the blade into a threatening position the overlord's axe fell on her raised arm near her elbow; cleaving it off in a clean quick swing.

Blood spurted out from between her fingers as she clasped her remaining hand over the end of her stump; abandoning Keyon's collective life force to the floor below.

"Aaah! You… you bastard!" Velvet shrieked, sinking to the ground as more of her blood coated the clay-red ground.

Faster than she was in life Rose moved to her sister's side. Not to comfort her but to kick the dagger away and to snatch the mass of white and black light from the ground. As the dagger skittered away behind a mass of rocks Rose retreated to her lover's side; her son's life force cradled in her hands.

Tearing her blood soaked hand away from her wounded arm velvet struggled through the necessary hand signs for an offensive spell. Her eyes were locked on her sister, despite the amputation inflicted on her by the overlord it was her sister that truly vexed her. The flawless milk white face that had always been looking down on her was like a return to her childhood.

"Always the perfect daughter... I'm better than you! I'm better!" Lightning crackled from Velvet's fingertips as she pointed her hand in Rose's direction. She prepared to unleash her full fury.

Rose meanwhile stood defiant holding Keyon's life force close to her bosom. Confidant Velvet's actions were beyond pointless. Another harsh rattle of metal armor was heard and a hell-forged great sword fell on Velvet.

Another shriek from the sorceress echoed across the Abyss as a Wraith stood over her with its great sword; recovering from the overhead stroke that had cleaved Velvet's remaining hand from her person.

In a frantic attempt to stem the loss of blood the Velvet pressed her handless wrist against her still seeping stump of an arm. She had already lost much of her blood to the surrounding ground and she could feel herself growing weaker.

"Please, do not kill her." Rose mused, casting a pleased smile down at her sister. "Why don't we let her alive, if only to allow her to bask in the company of her former fiancée for a time?"

"The paladin? He hardly speaks at all these days." The overlord grunted, he turned to the wraiths who had shambled out from behind the outcroppings to their master's side. "Heal her arms but do not give her new ones. Take her to where our four new guests are languishing in torment. Misery is best when it is shared."

Four inhumanly strong wraiths each grabbed Velvet by a limb and carried her like an unruley child; kicking violently and making her protests known in the form of shrill cries that grew more obscene the further they took her.

With that mild unpleasantness out of the way the Overlord turned to the still open gate that lead to the dungeons of Spree. Through there lied freedom from this kingdom he had made, with both the minions and wraiths at his command he would easily rule unopposed for the rest of his existence.

"No my dearest," Rose said, her voice as gentle as a song bird. "Why not let our son play as overlord for a time more? After all we have someone here with us who can tell us how to leave this place."

The overlord's fiery gaze fell on his spectral mistress as he stopped. The only woman he knew to be trustworthy in the Abyss. "His life force is in your hands, he lives no more."

Rose giggled; despite her youthful appearance the black, daemonic armor made it seem very out of place. "Powerful you are, but not knowledgeable as I. No, Keyon is not truly dead, at least not yet. If he had no more place in the living world he would have taken on a physical form in this world."

The ruler of the Infernal Abyss looked back at the portal, peering through the opening in dimensions to the red lit room. He could see the Tower Heart as well as the armored form of another overlord laying lifeless on the dungeon floor. His son and would-be successor no doubt.

"You told me much about the lad since you arrived. Yet it is clear he has already failed in the role." The Overlord spoke, "Why should I allow the boy the chance to make another mistake?"

Rose approached the portal with upraised hands, as if to offer up her son's life force to the gate. "He is young, and did well against incredible odds until the end. He did everything right but yes, he did fail. He has never known you, his true sire. Allow him this for all the years you missed."

The dark man inside the armor snorted, "I would not have coddled the boy if that's what you mean. But very well, as you said we have time. Should he fail again he will receive no aid from us and should he fall within my lifetime we will use your sister to reopen the gate to the living world."

"A reasonable deal has been struck." Rose said with a bemused smile on her face. Blowing on the sphere she sent it floating through the portal like a leaf caught in an updraft.

The wayward soul drifted through on unseen air currents upon crossing the threshold into the living world. The soul of the young overlord drifted towards its rightful vessel. The portal closed soon after, the flames consumed the magical gateway before flickering out and leaving a round scorch mark on the dungeon wall.

The minions, now gnawing on bones looked to the Tower Heart. The nice red light that had previously doused the room was shifting back to the gentle blue. One by one the metal bars fell away from the artifact with a loud bang; cracking some of the weaker bricks upon impact. Many of these iron bars fell across Keyon's still limp body.

The minions, having devoured most of the bard shuffled from their grisly feast towards their master. Their bellies were near to bursting and that aching fullness was the only thing that overpowered the allure of Velvet's spices. Slowly, they began to uncover their overlord.

---

To Be concluded...

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Author's notes: LAAAAATE. Fulfilling a friend's story requests really eats your free time up. Whatever. It's been a long time but it's updated right? I needed some time to iron out the ending, and to improve my own skills. No beta reader for this chapter though, I did my best to edit out everything but I'm sure there are some choppy parts.

almostinsane - Whatever.

Zenu - Jester? That whole thing was left to speculation. In Overlord 2 Quaver the Jester seemed even more abused than he was in the first game.

Shinigami Liliz Black - not exactly, I didn't have an exact way to end it until after Overlord Rising hell came out.

FTKnight - Oh yeah, you think I was going to let her be some minor character? Hell no, she's the main antagonist!

naruhina-fanboy-devlin - Ah I've had that happen. Ranging from the power going out after a whole night of writing and me not saving to having Windows utterly disappear from my computer.

anon - How's that?

Wargo - Not much really, Ziva would have been possessed by Velvet.

BrazeRancor - Surprise enough for you?

chris is back - Right on the nose! Well, mostly. Though things aren't that simple you nailed it pretty close to home.

Goth-for-2009 - I don't really see the appeal. What are you suggesting? A time line of Overlords? Doesn't interest me.

Phillips - This was the first, and maybe I ended up starting the other Overlord fics on this site. Maybe that's just my ego talking. It's been fun either way. I never thought this would be the one to break 200 reviews though. Do I have other ideas? Yes. But not for Overlord; I've explored all I really want to here. I need fresh horizons.

Russian Overlord - Hope this was soon enough

Xanophillius Nacindo Dulliante - I try my best. After over six years I would hope I've gotten better.

DreamFeathers - Well, not what you had in mind.

TrapedSoul - Whatever.

Darkmark149 - I'll give it a look.

Gyrogia - You would have just had to wait for chapters to update at my normal slow pace. I can offer ideas on your fic, help point you in the right way.

Spartan - Thanks. That kind of review really brightens my day. But without FF, criticism, and practice I would never have gotten better.

Sajuuk - Quick enough for ya? =3


	25. The return of the tyrant

Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs.

New Generation

Part 24

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Although the halls of Castle Spree's dungeons were quiet and seldom used in the recent years they were not devoid of life. The centuries old walls had long ago began to retain moisture, allowing lichens and molds to grow along the floor and walls. The the corners a rare mushroom would grow, providing both a place to hide and a nutritious snack for the small insects that lived their entire lives in the dungeon.

A large rat scampered along the wall keeping its whiskers in constant contact with the brickwork as it sniffed for its favorite meal; brown beetles. It had only a short few weeks before the small beetles pupated and grew into predators as large as dogs that would gladly snap up a rat like itself.

The rodent suddenly stopped as its nose caught the pungent odor of moss. In a galloping motion the rat hurried its body along towards the smell. Where there was moss there was food and sure enough there were several larval beetles unaware of his approach as they chewed on the remains of a snail that had wandered too close to their fertile patch of the dungeon.

Only two of the beetles were able to skitter away to a hiding place before the rat's large teeth periced their individual carapaces; killing them so that it could eat a large meal of the insects and not have to go chasing after each one. It had only begun its feast when it felt something in the air. Something unnatural that made its filthy fur stand on end. It looked around for what were the danger was coming from when its excellent ears picked up a faint sound, not unlike the wails of torment that had once echoed throughout the dungeon years ago but this seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Panic began to set in, the rat's small brain could not comprehend what was happening and the sound was growing louder. It flicked his head back and forth and backed against the wall for protection.

After the sound had grown to noticeable but muffled scream the rodent's black, beady eyes centered on a fog of color and light that was growing more distinct and solid as the scream grew more piercing. With a legitimate source for the rat's fears the vermin took off down the corridor.

If it had stayed to witness the supernatural event it would have seen a young woman wearing a green sundress materialize in the hallway, holding her arms out and screaming in agony. Her long red hair shaking back and forth as she threw her head about violently and pounded her right hand on the wall.

Ziva had known teleportation spells were dangerous. It was spelled out several times in Rose's spellbooks in red lettering no less. Despite her lack of experience she had dared to try this difficult spell to send her to the dungeons of Castle Spree. If she had miscalculated and transported herself into a wall it would have been a quick death that would never be known. But her hastiness had not been without cost; to complete the spell she had to hold both her arms out in a wide stance and now her left hand was stuck inside the brickwork of the wall up to her wrist.

The sensation of having her hand melded into the rock was excruciating in every detail. It was if her hand was obliterated, stretched out to unnatural proportions yet she could feel every scrap of her flesh trapped in the icy stone. Try as she might she could not pull herself free from the rock.

As her panic subsided Ziva drew a small but exquisite dagger from the leather pouch that now hung around her shoulder. Both were keepsakes from the former mistress and Ziva has wanted both along with her just in case of danger. But what she had to do to be free of the wall made her blood run cold.

In the books Rose had penned it was explained that should a mage become trapped like this another teleportation spell would fail because the unfortunate soul would count as part of the structure they were attached to and no single mage could teleport that much mass at once.

Taking a deep breath she pressed the blade of the dagger to her wrist, fearing what she was about to do. Stories she had heard in her childhood about how people would slice their wrists to end their lives came flooding back to her. But she could not stand here in this damp and insect ridden dungeon for the rest of her life. Holding on to her breath and clenching her teeth she focused her newly discovered talents into the blade; severing her hand from her wrist with no effort. Valiantly she tried to hold in the second scream of agony but out it came to echo down the narrow hallway she was standing in. She fell to her knees clutching her bleeding wrist to her chest. The blood was gushing forth, coating much of her forearm and dress with dark lifeblood.

Reacting quickly to preserve her life Ziva tore a strip of cloth from the skirt of her dress and tied it tightly around her elbow to stem the blood flow. She bound her stump with more strips taken from her dress; she was already feeling a little dizzy but there was no way to return to the tower now. She needed two hands to make the gestures that made up the spell and was not willing to try it again so soon.

Taking small, tentative steps she headed further down into the dungeon; her heart pounding with fear. If Keyon had died and there was nobody down there to help there then it was likely that she was going to die down here alone.

Though she could hear her heart pounding in her ears she could hear the yapping and wailing increasing in volume as she descended the one and only stairwell. Taking an unsteady breath she began her way down the long flight of stairs. The sounds she were hearing were now clearly that of the Minions and that she was going to right way. It was a good sign, if Keyon had been slain then the Minions would have either run away or been killed. Gnarl had been pretty clear on that scenario before she had left the tower.

The dungeons so Castle Spree were expansive but soon she was pushing open the large wooden door to the large open storage room. She had seen Keyon plenty of times end these battles in grizzly, horrible ways but this room was worse than any that she had witnessed. Laying on the ground in a massive pile were the people of Spree. Some of whom she could recognize as her former neighbors and childhood playmates. But their unblinking, empty stares sent shivers down her spine and she was loathe to approach them for fear they would suddenly spring to life and grab her like in one of her father's old ghost stories.

The raised platform held a more gruesome sight. A large stain of red covered over half of the the floor and back wall and there were plenty of pink mushy bits and what she could only assume were bone fragments scattered around torn bits of leather and cloth. The foul smells that were now wafting up to meet her nose nearly caused her to expel her last meal onto the stone floor.

Around this mess of foulness were the little impish creatures her master used in battle. They had apparently taken part in some abhorrent feast many of them were coated from the tips of their long pointed ears to the claws on their feet in gore. Many of them were crowded around the more cleanly portion of the platform. The minions were attempting to dig through a pile of large metal posts that were scattered on the platform while behind them on the floor was the tower heart, emitting the same soft blue light that she had always known it to.

Hugging the wall Ziva eased her way past the unnerving bodies and onto the platform by way to the barrels and crates that had been stacked up along the side. The minions were shocked by the sudden appearance of their mistress and parted to show her what had them in such a morose attitude. Pinned underneath these twisted metal posts was Keyon.

The smell, the peasants, the blood, her missing hand. Suddenly none of it mattered. Racing over to where Keyon's helmet was poking out of the mass of metal. Rolling the posts away with only minor difficulty she pulled his helmet off. He was either dead or in some unearthly sleep; Ziva prayed for the later. Removing her remaining hand from her chest where her stump was firmly pressed she reached down and felt for Keyon's neck. Her heart mercifully eased when she felt a pulse.

Twice now Keyon had laid helpless before the young maiden, and twice she had the chance to end his life. Only this time there was every opportunity for her to survive. The minions were bloated to the point of being weak and sluggish while the dagger in her pocket would make it a simple job. The injury to her arm was pushed far from her mind.

Keyon had killed her family. Yes that was painful and true but there was something that she hadn't fully realized until now. What was her future back on that farm? Marrying one of the local boys of Spree and being a farmer's wife and popping out five or six kids? Being forced to marry a rich man to ensure herself a good future? The Halfway to Heaven Inn's backdoor brothel? Keyon had freed her of those dismal options. She was discovering magic that was dormant in her veins, through him she wielded power over vicious creatures, and as tower mistress she would be in a position akin to royalty. Moreover nothing had kept her from running away back at the tower when the gates were closed. She had made her bed, and now she was well prepared to lie in it.

Grasping hold of the top most post she heaved with all her might to put it on its end and shoved it away where it landed on the stone floor with a ringing BANG. The minions cheered and pumped their fists in unabashed glee.

"It's just one post!" She snapped at them. "Now stop sitting there like the fat lumps you are and help! "

Relishing the harsh tone the imps renewed there attempts with surprising vigor. Ziva wondered if what these little creatures really needed was just a few harsh words and a strong personality to lead them? Maybe that's all the overlord was in the end. The minions were the thing that kept him in power. They are his power, his greatest asset.

With the minions working off their meal the overlord was completely uncovered. The durium armor he wore was badly dented, reminding Ziva of a crushed tin can. Still holding Keyon's helmet under her stumpy arm she turned to address the minions.

"Okay now you six!" She pointed at a loose group of brown minions. "Pick the tower heart! The rest of you pick him up gently, we're going home."

The minions looked at each other with confusion. A few yapped in their own primitive way stirring some kind of conversation among them. The room quickly echoed with their nonsensical yammering. Not willing to waste time arguing with the imps Ziva placed the helmet on her head purely on impulse. Instantly grabbing the attention of the minions.

"Get to it you little bastards!" She screamed.

The minions scattered and hurried to do as she commanded. They lifted both their master and the tower heart as if they were lifting fragile porcelain vases and slowly headed towards the stairs; the only exit from this room.

Ziva took the helmet off. It was too large for her and the weight of it hurt her neck. She had to wonder how in the world he endured such a thing on his head. She had nearly lost her balance and fallen when she had screamed at the minions!

She placed the helmet back under her arm as she moved to the front of both groups. This unusual trope headed up and out of the dungeon and into the brilliance of the afternoon sun. The cleansing midsummer breeze shook Ziva's red bangs and graciously took the smells of the damp dungeon from her memory. But the young lady did not stay to enjoy the scents or view from this high stone fortress Ziva made her way through the courtyard.

The draw bridge was down, presenting an easy but very long walk back to the tower. As thankful as she was for the simplicity however a new worry starting up in the form of a mild dizziness. The pain in her arm had dulled to a tolerable throb but it wasn't a comforting feeling one wants to have on a long walk.

The rumbling of rock moving against rock caused her to drop Keyon's helmet as she hurriedly fetched her dagger from the leather pouch. Thankfully it was not the sound of a rock giant approaching. Nestled in one corner of the courtyard was a glowing tower gate that had revealed itself of its own accord.

Ziva licked her lips, "Go, place the tower heart on the gate."

The minions that held Keyon shifted and made way for their brothers to pass them. The blue crystal orb was slowly set down on the central flat stone of the gate. The tower heart vanished.

"Ah that's much better!" Gnarl's voice rang in Ziva's mind, out of reflex she grasped her ears. "Oh sorry my dear... I see you found our missing overlord. Bring him back to the tower, the gate should work properly now."

Not even a word of sympathy for her missing hand! She chided herself, it wasn't like she expected to receive any from the wrinkled little goblin.

Exasperated, and not welcoming the thought of the Minion Master "You heard him get Keyon on the gate."

Gingerly Keyon was laid down on the gate and he too was whisked back to the Dark Tower. Nearby minion gates were opening up for the minion's to leap into. Ziva mused that already the magic must be returning to tower to have the lesser gates appear like that.

Ziva turned and looked out at the countryside that lay outside the yawning drawbridge of Castle Spree. From the tower's lofty balconies the rolling hills were merely soft and inconsequential lumps on the landscape. She had not been allowed to leave of the tower in all her time there. Now that she was going back she may not see anything from this vantage point for a good long time. Turning away from the pleasant scenery she stepped onto the gate and closed her eyes as she felt the cool rush of energy pulling her away from where she stood.

---

Suddenly finding herself unable to breath Ziva brought her hands up to her mouth only to find the movement of her arms sluggish. The coolness surrounding her was now ice cold. Forcing her eyes open to the freezing environment she saw waving reflections of light dancing above her. Then it hit her. She was underwater!

In a momentary flash of panic Ziva flailed her arms and legs, inhaling a large gulp of water. Finally gathering her mental faculties she calmed herself and pushed herself to the surface and crawled her way up the steps and collapsed on the long red carpet that ran from the throne to the pool.

"Ah, so glad to see your back mistress Ziva." Gnarl chuckled as he gave Ziva a poke between her ribs with his miniature staff.

Seizing Gnarl's staff upon his second poke Ziva wrenched it from the aged minion's claws and hurled it over her shoulder where it rolled off the edge of the balcony. Fuming at his loss Gnarl for the first time in centuries considered attacking something with his bare claws. But as he looked down at the young woman he paused. That uncertain, fearful glint that had been ever present since the day the master had brought her back as a slave was no longer there. In its place was a dark glimmer that spoke of subdued wildness and confidence. He had seen this side of her once while she had ordered the doors to be barricaded. Irritation turning to satisfaction, Gnarl bowed low and slowly hobbled reverently back as the mistress rose to her feet.

The water from the tower's magical pool dried quickly; leaving her hair in tangles and her bloodied dress clung to her body and had to be physically pulled away from her skin. As she got to one knee she became aware of a burning sensation under the bandages she had hastily pulled around her wrist. Her discomfort was soon accompanied with a sort of tightness where at first she thought the bandages were shrinking.

Still irritated by the jabbing from Gnarl's cane Ziva pulled on the dark red bandages. She could get the minions to bring her some proper dressing. Not wanting to gaze upon the injury beneath she turned away as the last of the strips of clothes were pulled away. Standing straight she looked around the throne room to find no trace of Keyon or the Tower Heart.

As if sensing the girl's thoughts Gnarl spoke up. "The master has been taken to his quarters. It will take some time for the tower's restorative powers to undo all of that."

She remembered well how Keyon's jaw had snapped back in place when it had been broken during his battle against Clara Ironfist. Noting that she was no longer holding Keyon's helmet she turned to look down into the dark waters of the gate. It was laying on its side on the last visible step before the lightless abyss at the very bottom of the pool.

The burning sensation worsened to a searing agony. The first thought that came to Ziva's mind was that her dress was not as clean she had hoped and the wound had become infected or maybe even gangrenous. Such fears were dispelled and replaced with morbid fascination as Ziva saw yellow-white bone and cartilage piecing its way through her damaged flesh. Her hand was regrowing at a snails pace, bones first.

Unable to tear her eyes away from the spectacle in front of her Ziva didn't even notice the vice like grip she had on her own injured wrist. Blue and red blood vessels snaked up the bones as ligaments connected bones together and new nerves fired to life with such agony Ziva collapsed to the ground still clutching her wrist. But to her credit she did not scream. Wet muscles grew and plumped outward, covering the slender bones and granting her movement. Her hand clenched tightly as the pain moved to the surface of her hand, searing like white hot fire as skin and fingernails at last finished the process.

Finally with that over Ziva sat up and held her new hand up to examine the results. It was virtually the same as she remembered it. The small scar on her thumb she had received from when she had first learned to skin potatoes was no longer there but that was no true loss. Rubbing her hands together she couldn't help but laugh with mirthful exuberance at the return of what she thought lost forever.

"Mistress Ziva, if you are done playing with your extremities the minions have completed setting up your study. It is in the private quarters near the master's chamber."

The smugness had returned to Gnarl's tone but Ziva noted how he was presently out of grabbing range. She chose to let it slide this time. Rising fully to her feet she looked down at her bloodied dress with a disappointed frown. She had only this ruined sun dress and the old dress that she had worn on the day she had been brought here. The slave rags were out of the question.

Ziva whistled and a blue minion wearing scraps of leather as armor over its frail looking body came obediently to her side. Making sure she did not make things too difficult for the simple creature Ziva spoke slowly and clearly. She ordered the minion to go to her room upstairs and set out by the stone bath and that a hot bath be prepared. The finned imp nodded emphatically and sped up the steps in its funny head-bobbing, hobbling manner.

While she climbed the same winding stairs the aquatic minion had taken she was forced to the side as a mob of various minions rushed past carrying Keyon's armor in their claws. Since they weren't bawling or wailing like they were back in the dungeons the overlord must have been recovering.

Seeing as how the red minions were heating the water for her bath the young girl decided to inspect her new study. The simple but sturdy walnut desks were all been take from Spree. With no people the town was easy pickings for the little creatures. Scores of books lined the overhead shelves, many of them were previously owned by Rose but Ziva would expand on this collection. A small potted sapling sat near the tall window. Much to her surprise Ziva found it to be a young apple tree; the minions must have stolen it from an orchard. The small immature fruit were a comforting sight, but they reminded her stomach that it had not been filled since breakfast.

Turning from the study Ziva returned to the wide room the bath sat in. The wide windows would give the bather a marvelous few. It took a dozen minions to work the polished steel pump that brought the water up from the ground far below. Laying on the floor in a neatly folded pile was her old dress. The hand-me-down was so weather worn it actually appeared more of a salmon pink than red.

Once she was out of her soiled clothing and had a hot, cleansing bath she felt much better. As much as she tried to enjoy the first hot bath she had ever had in her life she felt like she should be doing something more than just lounging around. Life on the farm had always been busy, even when she was Keyon's servant she was busy. Since becoming mistress she had done been increasingly finding things to keep her preoccupied. Learning magic was fascinating but she couldn't limit herself to just that... if she just stuck to that one topic learning magic would become stodgy and boring.

The memory of Spree's villagers popped into her mind. Their numb, lifeless bodies and those empty eyes still haunted her. There must have been over fifty people in that pile. Spree was a small village, except for the outlying homes the town must be empty now.

Clean from her dried blood and Ziva dried herself on a convenient soft cloth that was hanging nearby on a rack. Her old dress had been cleaned since she wore it last. Most likely by a thoughtful minion, Gnarl would never have thought of such a nice deed. She left her shoes by the bath, the cool stone floors felt surprisingly smooth and pleasing in a simplistic sort of way. Her stomach spoke up once again much louder this time and Ziva called for one of the minions to bring her some food.

Ziva was presented with a wooden plate loaded with dried meat and eggs over easy. There was no question now that this food was stolen from the town but she couldn't argue with how wonderful it smelled. Taking the plate and the utensils the minion offered once its hands were free she looked down the hallway to the master bedchamber. A quick bite of the dried meat (salted beef by her guess) and the young lady walked pushed open the door.

Inside was Keyon laying under the red sheets of his dark wooded canopy bed. Whether or not this was stolen it was hard to believe the minions were able to bring it up the stairs and into this room. His head was turned away from her on his pillow. Ziva made her way to his bed side, setting her plate down on the nightstand next to his bed before placing an investigating hand on his forehead. He didn't feel warm and moving her hand down to his nose she could feel a relaxed and steady series of breaths, a good sign she guessed. She jumped when she noticed his eyes were open and looking directly at her.

"You're alive!" She gasped, sounding more surprised than relieved. "I thought you were like those people in the dungeon!"

"Don't lump me in with them." He snapped weakly, "They just needed their souls to open a gate to the Infernal Abyss."

"They were soulless?" Offhandedly Ziva wondered if that meant if they were dead or not. "They frightened me just the same."

"Wait, you went to the dungeons? How? The tower was bereft of magical power." Keyon attempted to sit up but found his body unresponsive from the chest down. An annoyance the tower's healing magicks would remedy soon no doubt.

"It's not important." Ziva reassured as she grabbed a mocking finger into his sternum. "Suffice to say I found your armored ass and brought you home."

"What about Velvet?" He paused, rethinking his question since Ziva had never seen his aunt. "I mean Maya... wasn't she there in the dungeons?"

Scowling at the elf's name Ziva crossed her arms as she sat on the edge of the bed. "If the long eared witch had been there I would have gouged out her eyes for kicking me."

Keyon laid his head back on his pillow. Whatever had happened after Velvet had blasted him it seemed like things must have not gone as she thought. Maybe she couldn't get back to this side or something in that hellish place must have eaten her. In either case it wasn't likely that he'd be seeing her again.

"You could have left me there to rot." He grimaced as he felt something in his back violently pop back into place. "If you can work a teleportation spell you must have surprising talent."

"Oh don't kiss up like that." She wasn't about to admit she lost her hand, she'd let him think she pulled it off perfectly for a while longer. "I couldn't exactly rule a dead tower like this."

She felt his strong hand snake its way out from under the sheets and take her hand. "I'm glad you saved me. Thanks."

"What did I just say?" She huffed, turning away from him to hide the pink that had in her cheeks. The gesture was pointless but sweet.

Finally able to rise into a sitting position Keyon laid his other hand on her cheek and guided her face back towards him. His eyes locked onto the young lady's but not in a forceful grip. In a moment of silent understanding the two leaned towards each other. Both secretly happy that the other was alive and well.

"Sire I do hate to interrupt..."

The young couple had only been inches away from a passionate kiss when Gnarl had made his presence at the open doorway known. The pair quickly moved apart with Ziva now sitting at the far end of the bed like her father had walked in on her.

Gnarl continued; "While spying your lands I was able to discover the location of the stolen beer kettle and your father's servants. They are being held by the Halflings but I am sad to inform you that since the Halflings were ruled by Mevlin Underbelly many of the little vermin have gained a taste for human flesh. There may only be the beer kettle worth salvaging."

"Never a dull moment." Keyon muttered, casting an apologetic look to the woman his bed.

Ziva shifted in her seat on the bed. "What about the empty town?"

"There are people in Heaven's Peak who would love to get out of that place. I'll have the Silent Order spread word that if people want to live in a serene countryside town then Spree." Keyon's eyes suddenly narrowed. "The elves also have to answer for sending that treacherous wretch into my tower."

Gnarl's grizzled face tightened into a smile at the thought of screaming burning elves. "Excellent news sire. I'll have some minions sent to the dungeons to fetch your sword. Please rest and recover master."

The minion master then turned and hobbled out of the room. Leaving the two young people alone. All hope for some intimacy seemed as dead as the silence Gnarl left in his wake.

"Do you really think that people will want to move to Spree? There's nothing there." Ziva asked, mercifully braking the silence.

"The city isn't a hot bed of corruption but its crowded and people always yearn for what they don't have." Keyon stated as he relaxed on his bed, "If they're unhappy enough they'll pack their bags and never look back at Heaven's Peak."

"The grass is always greener." Ziva nodded, seeing the plot he was weaving. "And when they're here you'll have them more closely under your thumb."

The young overlord smiled, "Exactly."

Ziva stood and looked over at her plate of food. No longer feeling hungry she thought of a better use for it; "There's some eggs and meat on the stand next to you. I'm going to go make sure the minions get your sword and helmet back."

Keyon watch her as she left his room with some discontent. He had wanted her to remain here with him. He continued to lay on his bed from some time; feeling uneasy as he felt his insides being moved about to their rightful place. Whatever had happened to him must have left him barely alive. The tower had the power to heal the living, but it was obvious that the dead were beyond repair. If that was not the case then the overlord would be immortal in his tower.

Finally feeling his body reach some kind of equilibrium he rose and pulled on the old Order of the Red Dawn robe. It fit him much better since the minions had tailored it since he wore it last. He moved to the balcony that was outside his tower and looked down at the surrounding lands. He could see clear to the Ruborian Desert, over the Evernight Forest, and all the way to the Golden hills. Beyond them, it was his right to explore and dominate them. These lands were his father and grandfather's lands; old and ripe grapes that were easy to pluck. Out there was something more challenging. Once matters were settled in Mellow Hills he'd be going out there into the unknown lands to the north. With Ziva and the minions by his side all would bow to this young overlord.

---

The End.

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AN: Well, 3 years and it's finally over! Hope you all enjoyed my toiling because after this I'm going to try to do some real writing with my own characters. FF's been good to me for 6 years but I won't be making any fanfics for a while and there will never be one of this length again. They take up too much time. Time to answer last chapters reviews!

almostinsane - I tried to play them as different from Velvet and Keyon as possible. I was worried Rose's speech patterns would be too much.

redsnake15 - I'm a little obsessive compulsive

anon & Warrior of Virtue - Thanks. Glad you liked it.

Make-War-Not-Love & Alaster Warhaven - Last chapter dudes. Sorry.

ShadowDragonAmor - Hope it was worth the wait.

Chooocolate - There's very few good stories on FF period. But yeah, Overlord's a game that was very overlooked. (ha ha... pun.)


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